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Evacuations in flash flooding near Grand Canyon

By AMANDA LEE MYERS – Aug 18, 2008

PHOENIX (AP) — About 50 tourists and Havasupai Tribe members had to spend the
night in a shelter after being rescued by helicopter from flash flooding that
gushed through a gorge off the side of the Grand Canyon.

Some people who were believed to be in the side canyon were unaccounted for
after the weekend flooding. No injuries had been reported.

Rescuers were evaluating weather conditions and the level of flooding Monday
before deciding when they could safely resume air evacuations, officials
said.

A shelter set up in a gymnasium in Peach Springs held about 50 evacuees early
Monday, and American Red Cross representatives were making preparations for the
possibility that more could be brought in, Red Cross spokeswoman Tracey Kiest
said Monday. She said the shelter would stay open as long as it was needed.

Mimi Mills said she and 15 other people were stranded along Havasu Creek when
the flood washed away their river rafts on Saturday. They had moored the rafts
while they went on a day hike up the creek on the 12th day of a 220-mile raft
trip down the Colorado River through Grand Canyon National Park.

"It was definitely frightening, and there was a lot of 'Whoa, what are we
going to do next and what's the morning going to bring?" said Mills, 42, of
Nevada City, Calif.

She said the group took shelter under an overhang for the night, but had to
scramble up a cliff when another flash flood occurred in the middle of the
night.

"I woke up to people yelling, 'We've got to get out of here!'" she said. "We
booked it up a cliff in 10 seconds, and we just saw this massive rush of water
rage down the creek side."

They were rescued by helicopter Sunday morning.

The area of northern Arizona got 3 to 6 inches of rain Friday and Saturday
and about 2 inches more on Sunday, said Daryl Onton, a National Weather Service
meteorologist in Flagstaff. Early Monday, about 0.80 of an inch more fell on the
area, the weather service said.

"That's all it took — just a few days of very heavy thunderstorms," Onton
said.

About 6 a.m. Sunday, the Redlands Earthen Dam failed about 45 miles upstream
from the tribal village of Supai, park officials said. The dam isn't a "huge,
significant" structure and its rupture was only one factor in the flooding, said
Gerry Blair, a spokesman for the Coconino County Sheriff's Department.

Rescuers worked throughout Sunday to locate campers and Supai Village
residents and evacuate them to the top of the canyon. About 400 Havasupai tribe
members live in the village.

Many residents and campers chose to stay in Supai, Blair said. There were no
confirmed reports of damage in Supai, which is on high ground, he said.

"We're not as concerned about it as we initially were," he said.

Some hiking trails and footbridges were washed out and trees were uprooted,
according to park officials and the weather service.

Supai is about 75 miles west of Grand Canyon Village, the popular gateway to
Grand Canyon National Park.

In 2001, flooding near Supai swept a 2-year-old boy and his parents to their
deaths while they were hiking.

Associated Press Writer Mark Carlson contributed to this report.

On the Net:

Havasupai Tribe: http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.havasupaitribe.com/&usg=AFQjCNGKGBps6rU8CCc9S6zN6L-eW3nMIw

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