Police: 20th Body Found in Arkansas Flooding Disaster

(June 14) -- Arkansas State police said today that a 20th body was found at the Langley, Ark., campground where 19 others died after a pre-dawn flash flood swept through the area last week.

"We've found 20 bodies," state police spokesman Bill Sadler told AOL News.. "A search is continuing right now. Are there more out there? There could be."

Searchers had been looking for a missing 8-year-old girl, Jadyn Basinger, but Sadler declined to say whether the body was that of an adult or a child.

"There will be an analysis of the body and an attempt to identify the body," he said.

Basinger was camping April 10 with her family from Gloster, La., when the Little Missouri River flooded, leaving the Albert Pike Recreation Area under 23 feet of water. Basinger's mother, Kerri, survived the flood, but her father, Shane, 34, and 6-year-old sister, Kinsley, died, according to reports.

"They're just devastated," Graig Cowart, pastor of the nearby Pilgrim's Rest Baptist Church, told Fayetteville, Ark.'s KFSM-TV, speaking of the Basinger family. "With that little girl gone ... the mother remains alone in that family. It's terrible."

Cowart is housing family members still waiting for news at his church in the wake of the flood that overturned RV's, leveled trees and severely damaged cabins along the riverbank.

The search for Jadyn Basinger continued today, with rescue crews scouring the campsite region and volunteer certified divers searching the bottom of the Little Missouri, a treacherous job because of the RV parts and camping gear now sunken there.

"It's a mess. There's tents, coolers -- everything you can think of for campsites," diver Travis Branch told NPR. "It's heartbreaking. You know there was people in all that, and you don't know if they're still there."

After three days of grim searching that has turned up 19 bodies, including one found Sunday among debris, Capt. Mike Fletcher with the Arkansas State Police said his team will persevere.

"I am optimistic and hopeful. I have to be," Fletcher told reporters. "These are people's lives at stake. That's our primary goal."

Authorities said many of the victims at the campsite were families vacationing together, including the Basingers and the Smith family, who also lost three members in the flood: Anthony Smith, 30; his 2-year-old daughter, Katelynn; and 5-year-old son, Joey. Anthony Smith's wife, Candace, and 13-year-old son, Austin, survived.

Anthony Smith's mother, Nancy Hathorne, said her son helped Candace and Austin to safety but couldn't save himself from being swept away by the floodwaters.

"I know it is in my mind intellectually, but in my heart I don't feel he's gone," Hathorne told Shreveport, La.'s KTBS-TV. "My heart really hasn't registered it."

Sixteen of the 19 people confirmed killed in the flood have been publicly identified, including two 7-year-old classmates from Texarkana who were celebrating summer break, Kylee Sullivan and Gayble Moss. Eight of the victims were from Louisiana, seven were from Texas and one was from Arkansas.

About 20 family members of the victims visited the campsite Sunday, collecting personal belongings and mementos from the site where they lost their loved ones.

"It's just overwhelming for them," Cowart told the AP. "It looks like a war zone here."