Hikers rescued from trees after another Arizona flash flood
ARIZONA: A helicopter rescued hikers clinging to tree branches and perched on boulders as a flash flood tore through a normally quiet creek in Arizona, where unpredictable summer storms can rapidly wash churning torrents into canyons and trap those looking to take advantage of cooler weather after the rain.
Seventeen hikers were stranded Sunday in a scenic canyon on the outskirts of Tucson, just over a week after floodwaters killed 10 members of an extended family more than 225km to the north.
In southern Arizona, the final two hikers were lifted to safety on Monday from Tanque Verde Falls after they spent the night stuck on the side of a cliff in a rocky, narrow canyon, authorities said.
There was no immediate indication that any of the hikers were seriously injured.
Though “everyone is accounted for and everyone is alive,” the rescues were a reminder of the dangers of flash flooding during the monsoon, said Deputy Cody Gress, a Pima County sheriff ’s spokesman.
When rains ease triple-digit summer temperatures, people often go hiking, hence the danger of flash flooding has skyrocketed, the agency said.
On July 15, a large family celebrating a birthday at a swimming hole in central Arizona was swept away after a storm.
On Sunday, a police helicopter lowered a rescuer to eight hikers, including a 4-year-old boy, fastening them to a hoist that hauled them one by one to waiting rescuers on the side of the mountain creek.
Four were plucked from the creek as they clung to tree branches with water up to their waists, said Shelley Littin of the Southern Arizona Rescue Association who helped with the rescues. Others scrambled to safety on rock ledges.
“They were standing on top of what was now a raging rapid,” she said.
The creek normally has just a trickle of water, allowing people to play in shallow pools, but Littin said the water level jumped about tenfold in five minutes and was at least 1.8m to 2.4m deep. — AP