USA - Grand Canyon floods breach dam, force evacuations

Grand Canyon floods breach dam, force evacuations
Monday, August 18, 2008 5:48:43 AM
By AMANDA LEE MYERS

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Days of heavy rains around the Grand Canyon created flooding that breached an earthen dam Sunday and forced helicopters to pluck scores of residents and campers from the gorge. No injuries were immediately reported.

The weather and dam breach caused flooding in a side canyon containing Supai Village where about 400 members of the Havasupai tribe live, said Gerry Blair, a spokesman for the Coconino County Sheriff's Department.

Crews airlifted 170 people from the village and nearby campgrounds. Evacuees were subsequently bused to an American Red Cross reception center, officials said.

There were no confirmed reports of damage Other Top Headlines Photos
in Supai, Blair said.

The dam breaching was only one factor in the flooding, Blair said. The dam isn't a "huge, significant" structure, he said.

Still, a flash flood warning remained in effect. Blair said authorities were still trying to contact some people known to be in the canyon, though the majority were accounted for.

Rescuers plan to return to the flooded area Monday to conduct further searches for people.

Some hiking trails and footbridges were washed out after the dam breach about 45 miles upstream from Supai, said Grand Canyon national spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge. Trees were uprooted, the National Weather Service said.

As much as 8 inches of rain since Friday caused trouble even before the dam was breached. A private boating party of 16 people was stranded on a ledge at the confluence of Havasu Creek and the Colorado River on Saturday night after flood waters carried their rafts away, Oltrogge said.

The boaters were found uninjured and were rescued from the Grand Canyon, whose floor is unreachable in many places except by helicopter.

The area got 3 to 6 inches of ran Friday and Saturday and got about 2 more on Sunday, said Daryl Onton, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Flagstaff.
"That's all it took -- just a few days of very heavy thunderstorms," he said.

Supai is about 75 west of the Grand Canyon Village, a popular tourist area on the South Rim. Havasu Creek feeds the Colorado, which runs the length of the canyon.

The flooding came on a weekend during the busy summer tourist season, when thousands of visitors a day flock to the canyon for spectacular views, hikes or to raft its whitewater.

The helicopters lifting residents out were from the National Park Service, the National Guard and the Arizona Department of Public Safety, Oltrogge said.

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

Grand Canyon rescue, Dam breaks

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Grand Canyon Flood Rescue

Authorities halted the evacuation Sunday night of a few hundred people who were initially thought to be in danger after rain breached an earthen dam at the Grand Canyon.
A rafter is lifted by helicopter across Colorado River floodwaters to safety in the Grand Canyon on Sunday.


Rescue crews in helicopters evacuated about 170 people Sunday after water poured through Redland Dam, sending water down two canyons and threatening several hundred tourists and residents, said Gerry Blair, spokesman for the Coconino County sheriff's department.

A few hundred others were not evacuated, but they were on high ground and did not appear to be in immediate danger by Sunday night, he said. Authorities plan to decide Monday whether to evacuate them.

They also plan to resume the search Monday for "less than 20" people who were in the affected area and whose whereabouts are not yet known to authorities, Blair said.

The air evacuations were called off due to darkness at 8:30 p.m. Sunday (11:30 p.m. ET).

Most of the 170 people evacuated Sunday were campers, tourists and paddlers, he said.

A few hundred others -- perhaps as many as 400 -- remained in the area of concern. Most are permanent residents of Supai village, located within the Havasupai Indian Reservation at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

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