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Home » U.S.

Grand Canyon Flood "Pretty Scary"

Tourists, Residents Recount Ordeal After Successful Airlift
To Safety Following Flash Floods

PHOENIX, Aug. 18, 2008

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1
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A stranded rafter is lowered to shore by a National Park
Service employee after being short hauled across the Colorado River
Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008, in the Grand Canyon. A private boating party of 16
people was stranded on a ledge at the confluence of Havasu Creek and the
Colorado River after flood waters carried their rafts
away. (AP Photo/National Park Service)

Dam Break Floods Canyon Town

Rescue helicopters are
pulling residents from the Grand Canyon where an earthen dam failed,
flooding the small town of Supai, Ariz. Clara Leka reports. | Share/Embed

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Hundreds
Rescued In Ariz. After Dam Bursts

(CBS/AP) Approximately
50 tourists and Hualapai Tribe members spent the night in a shelter after
being lifted out of a flood-devastated gorge off the side of the Grand
Canyon by helicopters.

People were airlifted by helicopter after
heavy rains caused an earthen dam gave way. Residents and campers were
plucked from Supai, Arizona yesterday.

"Just like you would think
in a movie, a flash flood comes out of nowhere, that's exactly what
happened and we ran to higher ground, and it never went down after that,"
said evacuee Michael Rodgers.

Rafter Dylan Hennings described a
"huge wall of water coming at you - it's pretty scary."

Dozens of
people spent the night at an American Red Cross evacuation center set up
in the Hualapai Tribal Gymnasium in nearby Peach Springs.

Tracey
Kiest, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, said the shelter was
located in a gymnasium in Peach Springs. She said they were making
preparations for the possibility of accomodating more people, adding that
the shelter would be in operation as long as it was needed.

Some
people who were believed to be in the side canyon along Supai Creek were
unaccounted for after the flood struck on Sunday.

However, CBS
News correspondent Claire Leka reported that so far no people have
been reported injured.

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.

A flash flood warning remains in
effect for the area.

Rescuers planned to evaluate weather
conditions and the level of flooding Monday morning before deciding when
they could safely resume air evacuations, said Grand Canyon National Park
spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge.

"We Lost Everything"

About 6 a.m. Sunday, the Redlands Earthen Dam about 45 miles
upstream from the Hualapai village of Supai broke, 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.

On Sunday, Cedar Hemmings and his
small party returned from a hike to the spot where they had tied their
rafts and discovered they were stranded by the flood.

"We were
basically stuck up the canyon without our rafts," he said. "We had no
supplies, no food and very little water, we lost everything."

Just
like you would think in a movie, a flash flood comes out of nowhere.

Evacuee Michael
Rodgers

Hemmings and his group were airlifted out of the scenic
gorge by helicopter Sunday, along with about 170 other people.

Rescuers worked throughout the day 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.

© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights
Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or
redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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