VIDEO: Before three young children were swept down the flooding Tonto Creek on Friday, the creek's dangers were all too familiar to the people living along the intermittent waterway near Roosevelt Lake.
A bridge has long been desired there, but the $20 million price tag is out of reach for the county and was rejected multiple times by the federal government. The most recent denial came just last month.
For decades, the roughly 1,500 residents in the area have had to contend with high waters after storms that turn the normally dry creek bed into a torrent, keeping them isolated from groceries, jobs, school and even medical treatment.
At least five other people have died in the water in the past 25 years, according to a recent grant application seeking funds for the bridge.
Many other people have nearly died.