GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. — Rescue crews looking for missing people have found at least two bodies since a major flash flood swept through the Grand Canyon, and forecasters warned Monday that more flooding was possible as heavy rain shrouded the canyon walls. Saturday’s flash flood severely damaged the only water pipeline into the canyon. Officials barred tourists from staying at lodges and hotels inside Grand Canyon National Park and issued emergency water restrictions for year-round residents. At least two people have been found dead. More than a dozen others are missing following waves of rain in the Bright Angel Creek area of the tourist destination that hosts 4.4 million visitors a year. The flood threatened people who hike far into the Grand Canyon The flood happened deep in the canyon near where the Colorado River flows, around popular lodges and camping areas where people hiking from one rim of the Grand Canyon to the other stop for the night. Scores of visitors had to be evacuated from the area by helicopter. They talked of a massive deluge and rangers warning of rockslides, and saw huge pools of logs and debris rolling down the river as they stood nearby awaiting rescue. Hiker Daniel Evans said it rained several times before the worst 30-minute downpour Saturday afternoon. He had been planning to rest through the hot day and spend the night near the hard-hit Bright Angel campground area. Earlier, rangers told him it looked to be safe. Then, as the rain poured, they told him it was time to go. He thought of Nepal and the massive floods and landslides that poured down mountain valleys last week. “The entire time it was raining — the entire time I’m going through all this and packing — I’m just keeping my eyes upstream, just praying that a wall of water isn’t coming toward us,” Evans said. Two bodies found and yet more missing The body of a 46-year-old man was recovered Sunday evening near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River, the National Park Service said without providing details. Crews Monday were trying to recover a second body, park officials said in an email that provided no other details. More than a dozen people remained missing and officials urged anyone who was in the park when the flood happened to contact park rangers or anyone else to let them know they are OK. Late Monday morning more rain fell as the state Department of Emergency and Military Affairs was coordinating with the park service and county emergency management officials in search and recovery efforts. It’s ‘monsoon season’ in the Grand Canyon Visiting the Grand Canyon can be particularly dangerous in the summer because of the risk of flash flooding that accompanies the monsoon, or rainy season. Clear days can quickly give way to thunderstorms and downpours. Forecasters warned more flooding could happen Monday or just about any time storms pop up. Rain also fell on part of the Dragon Bravo fire scar, a burn area left by a lightning-caused wildfire in July 2025. It burned for days before exploding into a fast-moving conflagration that forced evacuations and consumed the historic Grand Canyon Lodge, some cabins and other structures. Without vegetation, a barren burn scar allows runoff to flow more quickly. The steep, rocky nature of the canyon itself funnels water rapidly. What might be a normal summer downpour somewhere else can become a charging wall of water in the canyon. El Nino has this year’s monsoons in the desert especially intense This year’s heavy monsoon rains are especially intense because there is a higher amount of water vapour in the atmosphere, mostly because of a strong El Nino, said A. Park Williams, a hydroclimatologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. The natural warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean can warp weather globally. That extra water vapour in the southwest U.S. gets wrung out in the storm in the form of rainfall, he said. The link to human-caused climate change and the heavy Arizona rain is pretty strong, said climate scientist Daniel Swain of the California Institute for Water Resources. A few months ago, Swain and colleagues published a study in the journal Weather and Climate Extremes finding that during the summer, short-term intense downpours in the West — akin to the one that hit the Grand Canyon — have become 10 per cent stronger since 2000. The flood hits water supply in the canyon The flood was a major blow to an enduring effort to modernize the water pipeline that serves visitors and the roughly 1,600 residents of Grand Canyon Village. A $208 million rehabilitation of the pipeline and upgrades to the associated water delivery system started in 2023, with the park service calling it a crucial investment to ensure the park can meet the needs of residents and visitors. The project was expected to be completed next year. While the Grand Canyon has large storage tanks for potable water on the South Rim, they won’t be refilled while the pipeline is out of service. Stengle reported from Dallas. Seth Borenstein in Kensington, Maryland; Julie Walker in New York City, Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed. Jamie Stengle And Ty Oneil, The Associated Press
