Tourists rescued from flooding at remote campsite
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Benji Xie stood beside a trail in an Arizona canyon, his camera fixed on a waterfall cascading into a blue-green pool where people swam beneath a double rainbow. A few hours later, the weather took a drastic turn.
Wind started blowing through the trees and sent dirt swirling deep in the gorge off the Grand Canyon. Rain came down in sheets. Soon, the popular campground on the Havasupai reservation was inundated with water rising high above the shallow creek that runs through it.
Water sloshed up around tents. Tourists scrambled to benches, trees and caves as they sought higher ground. Some were stranded on newly formed islands, Xie said.
“Everything is brown and muddy now,” Xie, a 25-year-old Seattle resident, said Thursday while awaiting his turn to be flown out.
The heavy flooding in two separate events Wednesday night and Thursday forced the evacuation of about 200 tourists. Some had only their swim suits on and had to abandon their camping gear.
All the tourists were accounted for and no one was seriously injured, tribal spokeswoman Abbie Fink said.
The tribe used ATVs, ropes and manpower to get the tourists from the campground below the village of Supai to a school, where they spent the night and were given food and supplies. A helicopter flew out about five tourists at a time.
Crews started assessing the damage Friday to determine when it’s safe for tourists to return. The canyon and the road leading to a parking lot above it will be closed to visitors for at least a week, Fink said.
During monsoon season, rain can fall heavy and fast. Flood waters often rush unexpectedly through normally dry canyons and washes, sometimes with tragic consequences. Ten members of an Arizona family were killed last July when a torrent of rain water rushed through a swimming hole in a canyon northeast of Phoenix.