Fifteen people were unaccounted for at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona after a “significant flash flood” struck the area on Saturday, park officials said.
The National Park Service on Sunday was seeking members of the public who knew of hikers or backpackers who were in Bright Angel Canyon and the Phantom Ranch area on Saturday “as well as anyone who had a campground reservation in the affected corridor,” the service said in a statement.
“These were individuals either on a backcountry itinerary in the inner canyon or believed to be day hiking along the North Kaibab/Phantom Ranch area,” Joelle Baird, a spokeswoman for Grand Canyon National Park, said in an email on Sunday.
The park revised an earlier estimate of those unaccounted for or missing to 15, from 20.
Park workers and the Arizona Department of Public Safety “are continuing evacuation and response efforts and working to account for individuals who may have been in the affected area,” the Park Service said.
Two helicopters from the Park Service and the state’s Department of Public Safety searched the North Kaibab Trail corridor as well as the Colorado River from the mouth of Bright Angel Creek to the Deer Creek Narrows on Sunday morning, Ms. Baird said.
“No missing individuals were located during these flights,” she said.
At least 62 people were evacuated from the tourist spot after the flooding caused significant damage on Saturday afternoon, park officials said in a separate statement.
Those who were evacuated were transported to the Maswik Lodge food court on the South Rim, where the American Red Cross was helping. No injuries have been reported, park officials said.
“Nearly all footbridges spanning Bright Angel Creek were destroyed, eliminating pedestrian access across the creek,” the Park Service said.
Scott Bailey, who runs Stronghold Engineering, a firm updating the park’s aging water delivery system, said more than 20 of his workers and about 30 campers were evacuated from an area near where they were working because of the flooding.
“Everybody’s been accounted for and has been evacuated,” he said.
Some of the company’s temporary housing in the Bright Angel Creek area, erected while they work on the waterline project, was washed away and the area lost power and communications, Mr. Bailey said. He was eager to return to assess the damage and the potential delays to the project, which he said was about 60 days from completion.
“It’ll set us back,” Mr. Scott said. “We’re probably going to be behind by at least 60 to 90 days of repairs, all to get it to where it needs to be.”
Officials warned of additional thunderstorms and heavy rainfall on Sunday and Monday that “could result in additional flash flooding, debris flows, rockfall and changing trail and river conditions.”
The Park Service said that Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Campground, the Phantom Ranch Canteen and the entire North Kaibab Trail from the North Kaibab Trailhead to Phantom Ranch were closed until further notice.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Christina Morales contributed reporting. Georgia Gee and Susan C. Beachy contributed research.
