Grand Canyon search narrows to one missing hiker after flash flood destroys footbridges

Search crews at Grand Canyon National Park have accounted for all but one of the roughly 15 people initially reported missing after a flash flood ripped through the canyon floor over the weekend, park officials said Monday, as forecasters warned that fresh storms could trigger another surge before the search is finished.

The flood struck Bright Angel Creek on Saturday afternoon, sending a wall of water and debris through the inner canyon near Phantom Ranch, a remote lodge and campground about a mile below the South Rim reachable only by trail, mule or helicopter. Two deaths have been confirmed, including a 46-year-old man whose body was recovered Sunday evening near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River, several miles downstream from where the water first hit. About 62 people were airlifted to safety from Phantom Ranch and the lower North Kaibab Trail over the weekend.

According to a National Park Service update, nearly all footbridges spanning Bright Angel Creek were destroyed, cutting off hiker access across the water and forcing the indefinite closure of Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Campground and the North Kaibab Trail. The flood also ruptured sections of the Transcanyon Waterline, the pipeline that supplies drinking water to the South Rim, prompting the park to restrict water use for its roughly 1,600 year-round residents and to close its lodges to overnight guests.

The danger is not over. The National Weather Service's Flagstaff office has kept a flash flood watch in effect across northern Arizona, with monsoon moisture and already saturated soil raising the risk of new flooding in canyon washes and side drainages through September 3. That forecast has slowed recovery crews, who must balance the search for the one remaining unaccounted-for hiker against the danger of being caught in the canyon during another cloudburst.

Flash floods are a routine hazard of the summer monsoon season in the Southwest, but rescuers and longtime park staff described the weekend event as among the most destructive to hit the inner canyon's infrastructure in decades, with the loss of river-crossing bridges alone expected to disrupt hiking and mule operations for weeks. CBS News and NBC News reported that incident commanders spent the weekend cross-checking backcountry permits and campground reservations against reports from family members to whittle the missing list down from an initial estimate of about 20.

The park has asked anyone with information about hikers or backpackers who were in the Bright Angel Creek corridor on Saturday to contact its Investigative Services Branch. No timeline has been given for reopening the inner canyon trails or restoring the water pipeline.

Helicopters from the Arizona Department of Public Safety and the National Park Service flew dozens of missions over the weekend, ferrying stranded hikers, mule packers and Phantom Ranch staff to staging areas on the rim as the creek's water level rose several feet within minutes of the storm's arrival Saturday. Search coordinators said Monday's renewed rain forced crews to pull back from some debris fields for safety before resuming work later in the day. Bright Angel Canyon has flooded destructively before — most notably in 1966 — but park officials said Monday it was too early to say how this weekend's damage compares until engineers can fully assess the waterline and bridge infrastructure.