One person died and about 15 people are missing or unaccounted for after a major flash flood at the Grand Canyon forced evacuations, pushed large boulders into the Colorado River and knocked out the sole water pipeline that serves tourists and residents, the National Park Service said Sunday.
The body of a 46-year-old man was recovered Sunday evening near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River, the park service said without providing additional details. Officials from an Arizona coroner’s office were on scene.
The flooding Saturday in Bright Angel Creek, which flows into the river, led to more than 60 people being airlifted from the depths of the canyon. The park service asked anyone with details about hikers or campers still unaccounted for to get in touch. The Arizona Department of Public Safety was helping with additional evacuations Sunday.
The limited potable water supply because of the damaged pipeline means tourists won’t be able to stay overnight at lodges and hotels within the park, starting Monday. Year-round residents are being asked to conserve water.
“These measures are crucial for ensuring the safety and sustainability of water resources,” the park said in a statement.
Visiting the Grand Canyon — a crown jewel of the national park system — can be particularly dangerous in the summer because of the risk of flash flooding that accompanies the monsoon, or rainy season. Clear days can give way quickly to thunderstorms and downpours.
Parth Desai was hiking through a narrow passage in Bright Angel Canyon with fellow physicians and a park ranger when heavy rain started falling Saturday.
“We saw the creek flood, waterfalls coming up out of nowhere, boulders, mud, landslides happening everywhere,” he said.
Later, as they made their way toward Phantom Ranch, a colleague shouted “Up, Up, Up, Up!” as a 4-foot (1-meter) debris wall headed toward them and they ran up into a patch of cacti, he said. They were rescued by helicopter late Saturday after making it to the Phantom Ranch area, he said.
Torrents of water wiped out footbridges over the creek and altered the landscape, widening the creek bed and extending an existing river rapid or creating a new one. The flood was a major blow to an enduring effort to modernize the pipeline that serves 6 million visitors a year and roughly 1,600 residents of Grand Canyon Village.
“Heaven help us if the whole thing down there at the bottom has to be reconstructed,” said Jack Schmidt, director of the Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University. “Where are they going to get the money?”
Halting overnight stays at the park because of a lack of water is rare, although the pipeline frequently has failed over the years. While the Grand Canyon has large storage tanks for potable water on the South Rim, they won’t be refilled while the pipeline is out of service.
A $208 million rehabilitation of the pipeline and upgrades to the associated water delivery system started in 2023, with the park service calling it a crucial investment to ensure the park can meet the needs of residents and visitors. The project was expected to be completed next year.
Popular tourist spots, including the Bright Angel Campground, the North Kaibab Trail and Phantom Ranch, home to a historic canteen and dormitories, remained closed Sunday. Lodging is still available just outside the park’s South Rim entrance station in Tusayan.
Erica Viola said she and about 50 other hikers at that campground watched the creek rise Saturday and debris start to flow by, including what looked like a bunkhouse. The helicopter ride out cut her adventure short by two days, she said.
About half an inch to 1 inch (1 to 2.5 cm) of rain fell within about 20 minutes on a rocky slope where there’s a steep drop in elevation, said National Weather Service meteorologist Darren McCollum in Flagstaff. The deluge was preceded by two smaller systems that drenched the area hours earlier.
“So when the main storm moved in, torrential rain fell on everything that was already soaked, and that caused all the problems that we’re seeing,” McCollum said.
The weather service said the flooding happened on the north side of the Grand Canyon, where Bright Angel Creek comes from the North Rim down to the Colorado River, dropping around 6,000 feet (1,828 meters).
More rain and thunderstorms were possible for the area into Monday.
Jeffrey Collins, Holly Ramer, and Christopher Weber also contributed.
—Jamie Stengle and Felicia Fonseca, Associated Press