Members of the FLDS community live completely isolated from the rest of society, but one Valley woman knows firsthand what the flood victims in Colorado City are dealing with.
Flora Jessop left Colorado City when she was sixteen years old, and is now an outspoken critic of the lifestyle. She says the news is devastating, but unfortunately, not surprising.
“In Colorado City with no television, no radio, nothing like that, there’s very little entertainment,” said Jessop. “So when it rains up there and the floods come down through the canyons, everybody shows up to the creek bed to watch the flood go through.”
Jessop says she is sure this tragedy is sending a ripple effect through the entire community.
“Everybody’s related to everybody. Everybody knows everybody. And it’s just really devastating to the community, what has happened up there.”
Jessop’s biggest concern is what will happen next.
“Things have actually gotten a whole lot worse up there since Jeffs was arrested. Everyone seemed to think that Warren Jeffs was the one bad guy, and that’s not the case. There’s a lot of bad stuff going on up there.”
She fears the surviving children may be cast out or abandoned.
“Are the families going to think to go check on their children that aren’t part of their family anymore? “There are a lot of dynamics that really have me quite concerned.”
