100s plucked from Grand Canyon

2008-08-18 09:36

Phoenix - Days of heavy rains around the Grand Canyon created flooding that breached an earthen dam on 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 native American tribe live, said Gerry Blair, a spokesperson for the Coconino County Sheriff's Department.

Crews airlifted 170 people from the village and nearby campgrounds.

There were no confirmed reports of damage 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.

A flash flood warning remained in effect, and search and rescue teams planned to stay in the village overnight as a precaution. 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 on Monday to conduct further searches for people.

Even before the dam breach, heavy rainfall since Friday totalling as much as 20cm caused flooding and problems in the area. Sixteen people in a boating party were 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.

Evacuees were being flown to a parking area and then, if needed, bussed to a Red Cross shelter in Peach Springs, about 97km southwest of Supai, said Tracey Kiest, a spokesperson for the Red Cross. She said about 30 people were there as of Sunday night.

The area received 7.62 to 15.24cm of rain on Friday and Saturday and about 5.08cm on Sunday, said Daryl Onton, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Flagstaff, Arizona.

"That's all it took - just a few days of very heavy thunderstorms," he said.

Supai is about 120km west of the Grand Canyon Village, a popular tourist area on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. 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 Grand Canyon has been the traditional home of the Havasupai for centuries.

- AP