One family planning a campout at the resort instead watched their gear and Suburban wash away in the roiling waters. Resort owners said the facility would be reopened next week.

A central emergency operations center was opened at the Washington County Administration Building in St. George to monitor the situation. Although the Red Cross was ready with an emergency shelter in La Verkin, none of the displaced homeowners took advantage of the shelter.

The clean up from massive flooding is under way today.

"There's no happy medium here in Dixie," Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith said today. "One week we're sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for a wildfire, the next week we're out in hip boots scraping mud out of our neighbor's basements."

The National Weather Service reported Wednesday that the downpour that began about 5:30 p.m. dropped up to 3 inches of water. The heavy storm forced the closure of state Route 9 for about two hours and the evacuation of residents of Zion Canyon.

Wednesday night's flooding is reminiscent of the 2005 floods that destroyed dozens of homes in the St. George area.

"The one thing that's saved us from the rain is the mitigation we did after the big flood," Smith said. "The flood channels were opened up."

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com