Grand Canyon Flood Kills Two; 82 Rescued
Grand Canyon Flood Kills Two; 82 Rescued
The News
What changed
The National Park Service has confirmed two deaths from the flash flood that tore through Bright Angel Canyon on Saturday, and officials said 82 people were rescued from the canyon, most of them by helicopter, ABC News reported. A couple of people hiked out on their own.
Officials now say one person remains unaccounted for. That is a sharp drop from the numbers that circulated over the weekend, and the movement is the story.
Latest: authorities say two are dead, 82 were rescued and one person is still being searched for, per ABC News. Park officials said that count is based on permits issued by the park, and acknowledged that day hikers without permits could also be missing. Authorities said hundreds of tips have come in and that, so far, there is no reason to believe anyone besides that one person is missing.
The dead
The Park Service confirmed Monday that the bodies of two flood victims had been recovered, one of them a 46-year-old man whose remains were found Sunday evening near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River, Reuters reported. The Park Service has not released names.
Timeline
Every number, with its owner
Sunday: the Park Service said in a social media post that it was seeking "information about more than 20 individuals who may be missing or unaccounted for" following Saturday's flood, according to Reuters and ABC News.
Sunday into Monday: park officials put the figure at about 15 people who may be missing or unaccounted for, CNN and CBS News reported.
What the water did
The flood hit around 2:30 p.m. local time Saturday in the Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch area, sending mud, boulders and debris down Bright Angel Creek toward the Colorado River.
As of Sunday morning, 62 people had been air-evacuated from Phantom Ranch and the lower North Kaibab Trail, the Park Service said. The South Rim stayed open to day visitors Monday, but overnight accommodations and other concessions were closed.
Reactions
Family members identified one of the men killed as Dr. John Giusti, a 46-year-old chiropractor from Granbury, Texas, and a father of three daughters, according to CBS News. In a statement Monday, relatives said Giusti had entered the canyon Friday with two friends, Brent Rosenkranz and Timothy Allen Smith, and said both men were still missing. That statement came from the families, not from the Park Service, and predates the official count of one person unaccounted for. The Park Service has not publicly matched names to its search.
What's Next
A Border Patrol technical search team is looking for the remaining person, ABC News reported, and searchers plan to use Bluetooth technology and a drone over the damaged area.
The Park Service is asking anyone who knows of hikers or backpackers who were in the inner canyon along the Bright Angel Creek corridor on August 29, or who held a campground reservation in the affected corridor, to contact its Investigative Services Branch.
More
"Nearly all footbridges spanning Bright Angel Creek were destroyed, eliminating hiker access across the creek," the Park Service said. The agency also said the flood damaged the Transcanyon Waterline, which supplies water for use in the park, leaving the park on limited reserves and forcing conservation measures at park facilities, Reuters reported.
Why it flooded
Four rounds of rain moved across parts of the canyon over roughly six hours, the National Weather Service said. The first three were not heavy but saturated the soil, leaving the ground primed when a fourth round of torrential rain arrived. The Weather Service said the steepness of the canyon and the burn scar from last year's Dragon Bravo Fire on the North Rim were likely major contributors.
Earlier stage of this story: Grand Canyon Flood Kills One; 15 Unaccounted For
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