Mourners pay their respects to victims of Payson-area flash flood
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The ten family members were dressed in white, in caskets each adorned with a single rose.
Nobody could remember seeing 10 caskets at once.
Not the pastor at St. Patrick Catholic Community, who opened his church’s doors because the grieving family’s own church could not hold them all.
Not the funeral director, who coordinated teams of mortuaries and volunteers for the largest funeral he’d ever organized.
There weren’t enough vases to hold all the flowers. The white caskets took up most of the space in the center of the sanctuary. Their photos filled two tables in the foyer, surrounded by white gifts brought by whispering mourners.
“I gived this one to her,” said a little girl in a pink dress, holding a doll that sat in front of a photo of 5-year-old Mia Garnica.
“The last time I saw him was like a month ago,” said another, running a finger over the portrait of 19-year-old Javier Raya-Garcia.
The girls shuffled along the table. They stopped at a photo of the entire family. It had been taken at some happy unknown time, before a flash flood crashed through a birthday party near Payson and killed 10 of the people smiling in that photo.
Funeral services for the family began with a Monday evening visitation at St. Patrick Catholic Community in Scottsdale. A funeral Mass will take place at 11 a.m. Tuesday.
Invitations for the visitation listed a 5 p.m. start time. By then, surviving family members had been in the pews for three hours and about 100 mourners had filtered around the ring of caskets as projection screens flashed family photos. Spanish gospel music played in the background, muffling scattered cries and wails from the bathroom.
Some visitors wore funeral black, but most came straight from a Monday at work, dressed as they were to say goodbye to the 10 people who died as they were, taken away by a wave of water and ash while they celebrated another year of life.
Now those 10 people wore suits and dresses of pure white, laid in white caskets underneath 53 white lights in the center of the sanctuary:
Emily Garnica, 3, and Mia Garnica, 5, with necklaces of flowers hung around their neck.
Daniel Garnica, 7, with a stuffed Tigger wedged between his body and the casket’s frame.
Hector Miguel Garnica, 27, whose body had been found four days after the flood and who now lay in the only closed casket.
Maria Raya-Garcia, 27, whose fingernails were painted black.
Selia Garcia Casteneda, 57, between her children with a silver clip in her blonde hair.
Maribel Raya-Garcia, 24, with a silver band holding back her hair.
Javier Raya-Garcia, 19, and Jonathan Leon, 13, whose hands held silver rosaries.
Erica Raya-Garcia, the youngest at 2 years old, with a princess blanket draped over the foot of her casket.
Tied to each one was a single rose and a single note: “Sleep with the Angels.”
“Fifteen years and I’ve never see one this tragic,” said Messinger Mortuary’s Russ Persinger.
As one of the largest Catholic churches in the Valley, St. Patrick holds dozens of funerals in its sanctuary each year, welcoming people to the quiet routine of grief: Mourners enter, spend a moment at the casket, say a kind word to the family and move on.
But on Monday, one goodbye still left nine more.
Supported by a daughter on either side, an elderly woman moved toward Emily Garnica’s casket, the first in a line that stretched around the center of the sanctuary. Slowly she approached.
When she reached the open casket and saw Emily’s necklace of flowers, she collapsed. The woman’s daughters held her up, and she reached a hand in, stroking the little girl’s lifeless face. Choking a sob, she moved to the next casket, again falling against her daughters when she saw the face inside.
After five caskets, she turned away. Her daughters guided their mother back to an empty pew, where the three women sat holding each other, heaving silently, with five caskets still to go.
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSONRAW VIDEO: Deadly flash flood near Payson | 7:17
A flash flood near Payson killed at least nine people in July 2017. This amateur footage shows how quickly the waters rose. (David Cole/YouTube)
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSONCrew finds remains in search for Payson flash-flood victim | 1:29
Search operations section chief Cougan Carothers describes how a DPS helicopter found remains believed to be that of Hector Miguel Garnica. Hannah Gaber/azcentral.com
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSONGila County sheriff announces finding remains | 0:57
Gila County Sheriff Adam Shepherd announces the finding of remains believed to be Hector Miguel Garnica on July 19, 2017. Garnica went missing after a flash flood in Payson, Arizona on Saturday. Hannah Gaber/azcentral.com
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSONMap of search area for Payson flood victim | 0:49
Tiffany Davila, spokeswoman for the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, gives details on the search for flash-flood victim Hector Miguel Garnica on July 19, 2017 in Payson. Hannah Gaber/azcentral.com
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSONFamily of Payson flood victims talk | 0:56
Family members Carla and Iris Garnica discuss missing flash-flood victim Hector Miguel Garnica. Thomas Hawthorne/azcentral.com
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSONSearch for Payson flash-flood victim enters 5th day | 1:19
Pruett Small, operations chief of search efforts for Hector Miguel Garnica following a flash flood in Payson on July 15, 2017, gives a briefing on July 19. Hannah Gaber/azcentral.com
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSONUpdate on search for Payson flash-flood victim | 0:56
Authorities give an update as search teams scour a 2.5-mile area along Ellison Creek on Tuesday, July 18, 2017 northeast of Payson, in hopes of finding the missing man whose family was in a flash flood. Rob Schumacher/azcentral.com
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSONSearch for Payson flash-flood victim in its 4th day | 0:45
Search teams scour a 2½-mile area along Ellison Creek on Tuesday, July 18, 2017 northeast of Payson, in hopes of finding the missing man whose extended family was trapped in a flash flood. Perry Vandell and Rob Schumacher/azcentral.com
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSON9 dead, 1 still missing in Arizona flash flood | 1:27
Authorities say they have found nine bodies and are only looking for one more person among a group who got swept up in a furious flash flood in the Tonto National Forest in Arizona. (July 17) AP
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSONSearch continues for flash-flood victim | 1:28
Sgt. David Hornung of the Gila County Sheriff’s Office gives an update on the search for a missing person on July 17, 2017, following a recent flash flood in Payson. David Kadlubowski/azcentral.com
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSONFriend sets up GoFundMe page for flash-flood victims | 1:33
Tom Price, a friend of the family that was washed away by a flash flood north of Payson on Saturday, July 15, 2017, has set up a GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses. Nine members are confirmed dead. One is missing. Tom Tingle/azcentral.com
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSONSearch continues for missing man after flash flood near Payson | 1:25
Sgt. David Hornung of the Gila County Sheriff’s Office gives an update on the search for a missing person following a recent flash flood. David Kadlubowski/azcentral.com
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSONFamily members of Payson flash flood victims describe incident | 0:45
Carla Garnica, 22, describes the search for her family members, at least 9 of whom were killed in the flash flood.
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSONCrews describe rescue from Arizona flash floods | 1:13
Search and rescue teams who were already in the area helped save people caught in Saturday’s flash floods in Arizona. Nearby residents say some who visit the area may not be aware that the weather can quickly turn into dangerous conditions. (July 17) AP
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSONRaw: Deadly flash floods hit Ariz. swimming hole | 0:42
A rural fire chief says at least four people were found dead and about a dozen more are missing after flash flooding poured over a popular swimming area inside the Tonto National Forest in central Arizona. (July 16) AP
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSONSister of man missing in Arizona flash flood talks on the search | 0:48
22-year-old Carla Garnica’s brother Miguel, 27, is still missing. Nine of their family members were killed in the flood. Video courtesy of Telemundo Arizona
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSONDeadly flash flood kills at least 9 near Payson | 1:14
Officials search for drowning victims following a flash flood at a popular swimming hole north of Payson that at least killed nine people from a Phoenix family. David Kadlubowski/The Republic
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSONSgt. David Hornung talks about responding to the Payson tragedy | 0:20
Several children died in the flash flood. Yihyun Jeong/The Republic
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DEADLY FLASH FLOOD NEAR PAYSONFlash flooding at Water Wheel | 1:18
This video of a flash flood in the Water Wheel area outside of Payson was posted June 15 by YouTube user David Cole.