Rescue crews set up floating shuttles to ferry 23 stranded hikers across the rain-swollen Sandy River Tuesday, after one hiker was swept away to his death.

Members of the Clackamas County Water Rescue Consortium inflated a flotilla of RDC -- "rapid deployment craft" -- rafts to help the hikers back across the river where surging waters blew out Ramona Falls Trail footbridge.

"It really was a flash flood," said Chief Mic Eby of the Hoodland Fire District. "Water came washing down the side of Mount Hood, with no snow to slow it down."

Eby said Timberline Lodge reported 1.5 inches of rain in less than an hour when a series of intense thunderstorms roared through the area.

"There was no place for that water to go but down," Eby said.

The result, said Sgt. Nathan Thompson, Clackamas County Sheriff's Office spokesman, was the Sandy River rose an estimated 4 to 6 feet "very quickly."

Thompson said the name of the 35-year-old hiker killed in the flood is not yet being released. He said the man was an out-of-state resident and that it would take some time to notify his family.

The man was killed shortly after 2:30 p.m., when the temporary wooden footbridge was hit by rushing water and gave way. He was wearing a pack when he was thrown into the brown, debris-strewn river.

"He was the last one in line to go across the bridge," Thompson said. "All the others made it to the other side."

Search crews found the man's body more than a mile downstream, around 5:30 p.m.

The accident was reported by witnesses who hiked back out to the trailhead, then drove until they had a strong enough cell phone signal. The call drew the Water Rescue Consortium, whose members rushed to the scene with boats and technical equipment.

Clackamas County Sheriff's Search and Rescue then coordinated efforts by agencies including Mountain Wave Communications, Pacific Northwest Search and Rescue, Sandy Fire District, Gladstone Fire Department, Lake Oswego Fire Department, Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, Clackamas Fire District 1, Clackamas County Dive Rescue, U.S. Forest Service and Oregon State Police.

Eby said the 23 stranded hikers could make it part-way back across the river, but that the rushing water made it treacherous – or impossible – for some.

"Those rafts really helped," Eby said. "They provided enough stability to make it through the currents." It took rescuers several hours to safely ferry all 23 stranded hikers and their gear across the river.

The U.S. Forest Service warns on its website that the wooden bridge, about one mile from the trailhead in the Mount Hood National Forest, can be washed out in heavy rains. Forest Service crews install the bridge seasonally, spring to fall, to allow hikers to cross the Sandy River and continue to Ramona Falls.

Ramona Falls Trail will remain closed until a new footbridge can be installed.

-- Rick Bella