One person was confirmed dead and about 15 people were missing or unaccounted for at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona after a flash flood swept through the canyon, park officials said Sunday. The flooding buried trails beneath rock slides, washed out footbridges and cut off access to a remote area Saturday, forcing hikers to be evacuated by helicopter.
The National Park Service said late Sunday that it had recovered the body of a 46-year-old man near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River but provided no additional information.
The park service said it was seeking members of the public who knew of hikers or backpackers who were in Bright Angel Canyon and the Phantom Ranch area 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 spokesperson for Grand Canyon National Park, said in an email Sunday.
The park service announced late Sunday that water supplies to the park from the canyon had been disrupted, forcing it to impose major water restrictions.
Day visits and dry camping will still be allowed, but overnight accommodations will close starting Monday, including El Tovar, Bright Angel Lodge, Maswik Lodge, Phantom Ranch, Yavapai Lodge and Trailer Village.
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, 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 Saturday afternoon, park officials said in a separate statement.
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.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.