One person is dead and about 15 are missing or unaccounted for after a flash flood tore through Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park, the US National Park Service says (Geo News, The Guardian).
Both figures come from NPS press releases. However many outlets carry them, that is one official source.
Where and when
The flood hit at about 2:30pm local time on Saturday, 29 August, in Bright Angel Canyon and around Phantom Ranch, the lodge at the canyon floor reachable only on foot, by mule or raft.
The body of a 46-year-old man was recovered on Sunday evening near Crystal Rapids on the Colorado River. The park service has not named him, given a cause of death, or said whether it is connected to the search for the missing (CBS News, Fox News).
Who is missing
The NPS has not identified them or said whether they were hikers, campers or rafters. It has appealed for information on anyone in the inner canyon along the Bright Angel Creek corridor on Saturday, and on campground reservation holders.
The NPS first sought information on more than 20 people, then revised the figure to “approximately 15”, the BBC reported. A park spokesperson told CBS the number remains subject to change. Outlets are running figures from 14 to more than 20, depending on which update they used.
The family of Dr John Giusti, a chiropractor from Granbury, Texas, says he and his hiking group are among the unaccounted for — a family statement carried by Fox News, not confirmed by the NPS.
The search
At least 62 people had been evacuated as of Sunday morning, with no injuries reported, and the National Park Service said more were scheduled to be flown out from Cottonwood Campground and Phantom Ranch. Sunday’s helicopter sweeps of the North Kaibab Trail and the river down to Deer Creek Narrows found none of the missing, Geo News reported.
Nikki Baggs, 41, evacuated from Phantom Ranch, told the BBC she had just dropped her bags at a cabin when the water came. “It was a beautiful day and then people were screaming, running.”
Nearly all footbridges over Bright Angel Creek were destroyed, and the Transcanyon Waterline — the park’s sole water supply — is out of service, ending overnight lodging from Monday. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs said the state’s Division of Emergency Management was coordinating with the NPS and Coconino County to support the search, Fox News reported.
The weather
Half an inch to an inch of rain fell in about 30 minutes on steep rock, Justin Johndrow, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Flagstaff, told AP. “Most of it ran off instantly.”
NWS Flagstaff has since put all of northern and central Arizona under a flood watch through Monday evening, CBS reported. No source reached said whether a watch or warning was in force when Saturday’s flood struck.
