Floods Rout Visitors In Grand Canyon

Flash flooding that forced the evacuation of about 400 people from the bottom of the Grand Canyon began subsiding Monday, but problems were far from over.

Logs, boulders and other debris damaged water, power, telephone and sewer lines Sunday when flood water raced through the Havasupai Indian Reservation, fueled by 3 to 4 inches of rain that fell in two hours.

“It just happened so fast we had to turn our alarms on so people would look and see the water coming,” said Lester Crooke, the tribal chairman.

Many of those evacuated were tourists who were hiking, camping and rafting near the popular Havasu Falls. Some had come for the reservation’s annual Peach Festival.

Crooke and other officials got into a chartered helicopter to warn people, some of whom were swimming with no indication that raging water was on the way. Many people had to flee with only the clothes on their backs, he said.

Only one minor injury was reported, a 2-year-old struck by a horse fleeing the rising water.