GRAND CANYON, AZ — Deadly flooding in Grand Canyon National Park has left at least two people dead and one person missing after a violent runoff event swept through Bright Angel Canyon over the weekend. About 80 others were rescued as floodwater tore through the area, which is a popular destination for hikers and campers.
By Monday night, crews had recovered the bodies of a Texas chiropractor and at least one other person, officials said. Search and recovery work continued Monday in Bright Angel Canyon, which drops from the North Rim toward the Colorado River. Forecasters said the storm was intensified by a rare mix of deep monsoon moisture, unusually warm ocean water and long-running drought conditions across the Southwest.
Why the flooding turned so severe
Meteorologists said the Grand Canyon’s terrain helped turn heavy rain into a sudden torrent. At roughly 7,000 feet on the South Rim, rising air can help build strong convective storms that dump a large amount of rain in a short time. Experts said the rainfall this weekend was unusually heavy even for northern Arizona, where flash flooding is common.
AccuWeather forecaster Chad Merrill said El Niño has added moisture to the atmosphere by warming sea-surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific. He also pointed to very warm water between Southern California and Hawaii, which has helped raise humidity in the region and feed monsoon storms. Merrill said a persistent drought also made conditions worse because dry ground could not absorb the water quickly, sending it racing into the canyon.
The people still unaccounted for
The family of John Giusti, 53, said the Texas chiropractor was traveling with two friends he had long wanted to visit the canyon with: Brent Rosenkranz, 42, a Texas martial arts studio owner, and Timothy Smith, 53, a Wyoming pilot. The three men planned a two-night trip to fish and hike at the bottom of the canyon.
According to a joint family statement released Monday, they spoke with relatives Thursday and were later found at their campsite Friday. No one has heard from them since. Officials have not said how many of the missing are still unaccounted for beyond that group, but one person remained missing as of Monday night while recovery teams continued their work.
Forecast, damage and what officials are watching next
Park officials said preliminary assessments showed about 40% of the Transcanyon Waterline was damaged or destroyed. The 12½-mile pipeline supplies drinking water and fire suppression for South Rim facilities and some inner canyon areas, making the damage a major concern for park operations.
Officials are also monitoring the burn scar from the Dragon Bravo fire, which burned nearly 150,000 acres on the Kaibab Plateau inside the park. With little vegetation left to hold the soil, water can move faster into low-lying canyon areas. The National Weather Service kept a flash flood watch in place for northern Arizona through midnight Monday, and forecasters said showers and thunderstorms were expected to continue into the evening.
When the weather turns dangerous, SVH Snow is watching.
