Grand Canyon braces for more storms after flash flood kills one, leaves others missing
After a flash flood killed one person and left roughly 15 others unaccounted for, Grand Canyon National Park imposed emergency water restrictions when its only pipeline was destroyed. More storms were forecast for Monday.
Grand Canyon National Park was preparing for further rain and thunderstorms on Monday after a flash flood over the weekend killed one person and left about 15 others missing or unaccounted for. Dozens of visitors were evacuated, and the flood destroyed the park's only pipeline supplying water to tourists and residents.
Emergency water restrictions took effect Monday, barring tourists from overnight stays at lodges and hotels inside the park, while year-round residents were asked to conserve water. The National Weather Service warned of an elevated flash-flood risk given deep monsoon moisture and already-saturated soils.
The body of a 46-year-old man was recovered Sunday evening near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River, according to the National Park Service. Saturday's flooding along Bright Angel Creek, a tributary of the river, forced the airlift evacuation of more than 60 people from the canyon. The park service appealed for information about any hikers or campers still unaccounted for, and Arizona's department of public safety assisted with further evacuations on Sunday.
Physician Parth Desai, who was hiking through a narrow section of Bright Angel Canyon with colleagues and a ranger, described watching the creek suddenly rise, with waterfalls, boulders and mudslides appearing around them. The group later scrambled uphill to escape an approaching debris wall roughly a meter high before being rescued by helicopter.
The flooding destroyed footbridges over the creek and reshaped the landscape, widening the creek bed. The damage is a setback for an ongoing $208m project, launched in 2023, to rehabilitate the pipeline and water system serving about 6 million annual visitors and roughly 1,600 residents of Grand Canyon Village; the upgrade had been due to finish next year. Large water storage tanks on the South Rim will not be refilled while the pipeline remains out of service.
Separately, authorities in San Antonio, Texas, reported two flood-related deaths from a storm earlier in the weekend: a 46-year-old woman swept away in San Pedro Creek and a man in his 50s found at Woodlawn Park, both being investigated as possible drownings.
