At least 15 hikers missing as flash flood sweeps through Grand Canyon

A desperate search was underway Sunday for at least 15 missing hikers who vanished when a flash flood swept through the Grand Canyon.

The National Park Service (NPS) confirmed 46-year-old man was dead and many others missing as they continued scouring the popular retreats of Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch after the torrent struck at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

Apocalyptic footage showed a stream of water wiping what appeared to be a building downstream as the wall of mud was surged through the ravine.

Dramatic rescue video also captured helicopter pilots carrying people to safety as the rainstorm battered the chopper and the extent of the devastation could be seen below.

In an update Sunday afternoon, the Grand Canyon National Park Service issued a request for information about 20 missing people, before a spokesman later revised the figure to 15.

It said: “The National Park Service is asking the public to provide information for more than 20 individuals who may be missing or unaccounted for following a significant flash-flood event in Bright Angel Canyon and the Phantom Ranch area on August 29.

“The National 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, as well as anyone who had a campground reservation in the affected corridor, to provide information to the National Park Service Investigative Services Branch.

“This includes individuals who may have been traveling along the North Kaibab Trail from the North Kaibab Trailhead to Phantom Ranch, staying at Bright Angel Campground, or traveling or staying in the area known as “the Box” north of Phantom Ranch.”

It was not immediately clear if the missing people were feared swept away or had just not been officially accounted for.

Grand Canyon, a popular tourist attraction for Californians that sees about five million visitors per year, also said it would shut down hotels across the region Monday and bring in water restrictions due to damage to infrastructure.

It said: “All park concessions will halt overnight accommodations. This includes hotel facilities operated by Xanterra, such as El Tovar, Bright Angel Lodge, Maswik Lodge, and Phantom Ranch, as well as Delaware North’s Yavapai Lodge and Trailer Village.”

Bright Angel Canyon is a popular campground about a half-mile north of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon that has cool, flowing water and cottonwood trees. There are also picnic tables, food storage boxes, and poles to hang packs for visitors. In the same area is Phantom Ranch, the only lodging below the canyon rim.

The oasis can only be reached by mule, on foot or by rafting the Colorado River. A cabin for two costs $226.39 per night, while a group cabin costs $398.39 a night.

There were 62 people evacuated from Phantom Ranch and the lower North Kaibab Trail by Sunday morning after NPS search and rescue crews launched an immediate airlift response.

More evacuations from Phantom Ranch and the Cottonwood Campground are expected.

Harrowing footage captured of the flooding shows a wall of muddy, chocolate-brown floodwater violently churning down the canyon floor, tearing through trail corridors and sweeping away debris, logs and vegetation.

Park officials shut down Phantom Ranch and the entire length of the North Kaibab Trail earlier Sunday until further notice.

The park’s lodge operator Xanterra is currently reaching out to affected guests regarding reservation updates. Park authorities urged all visitors “not attempt to access the closed areas.”

Grand Canyon’s catastrophe comes after a devastating flood in Nepal killed at least 750 people, with nine Americans evacuated while 85 remain missing.

The cataclysmic flash flooding was triggered after a high-altitude glacier broke off at 17,000 feet and plunged nearly 4,000 feet into Tibet’s Lhende Khola river valley. The falling debris temporarily dammed the river before bursting, unleashing a destructive slurry of mud, ice and rock that tore through the region below.

Saturday’s horror is not the first flash flooding to hit the Grand Canyon, with a multi-day rainstorm in September 1990 causing a surge of water.

Also, in 1966, ten inches of rain fell on North Rim in six hours causing historic damage to Phantom Ranch.

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