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11 feared missing in Grand Canyon flood are safe: police

Aug 19, 2008

PHOENIX, Arizona (AFP) — Eleven hikers feared missing after flash flooding
that deluged a remote Grand Canyon village on an Indian reservation have been
located and are safe, police said Tuesday.

A spokesman for Coconino County Sheriff's Department told AFP that the
individuals had been found and were accounted for.

"It's good news. Yesterday we believed there were 11 people unaccounted for.
We are confident that those 11 people have been located, identified and are
safe," spokesman Gerry Blair told AFP.

Rescuers from the US National Park Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs
were continuing to comb the creek where a muddy, raging torrent caused by days
of heavy rain swept through Havasu Canyon, Arizona on Sunday.

Blair said most visitors to Havasu Canyon were required to sign a register
before setting off for hiking and camping trips in the area. Everyone who had
signed in prior to the flood had now been accounted for, he said.

"It is possible of course that some people did not check in, so with that
possibility in mind we are continuing to search the creek from the air," Blair
said. "So far we haven't found anyone who appears to be stranded."

Rescuers would conduct more thorough foot searches of the canyon once water
levels subsided, he added.

At least 250 campers and residents were evacuated from the Native American
tribal town of Supai and the surrounding wilderness. No injuries or major damage
to Supai have been reported.

Evacuees are being housed in a Red Cross shelter set up in the town of Peach
Springs.

Among the evacuees from the flood zone were six boy scouts and three adult
guides from the state of New Jersey who were left clinging to trees after the
gentle stream they had camped beside was transformed into a raging river.

Kevin Muench, who was on the trip with his two sons aged 13 and 11, told ABC
News that large rocks and trees were swept away by the flood.

"It was unbelievable," Muench said. "You'd see boulders four-foot in diameter
being carried down the stream, and whole trees.

"We were literally in the trees saying 'Our Father,'" Muench said. "We did a
lot of praying. The group was eventually airlifted to safety after clambering
onto a rockface.

Supai is one of the most remote towns in the United States and is
inaccessible by road. The only way into the town is by hiking over rugged
wilderness or by air.

The town is the capital of the Havasupai Indian Reservation, which is home to
the spectacular Havasu Falls, a prime tourist attraction.

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