Grand Canyon Flash Flood Kills One, Destroys Phantom Ranch

A flash flood that hit the floor of the Grand Canyon on Saturday afternoon swept away nearly every footbridge over Bright Angel Creek, along with the Black Bridge and Silver Bridge over the Colorado River, and badly damaged the historic Phantom Ranch settlement. The National Park Service confirmed Sunday evening that the body of a 46 year old man had been recovered from the river near Crystal Rapid, while between 15 and 20 people remain unaccounted for.

The flood struck Bright Angel Canyon and the Phantom Ranch area on Saturday, August 29, around 2:30 p.m. local time. Between 12 and 25 millimeters of rain fell on the steep terrain in just half an hour. National Weather Service meteorologist Justin Jondrow, based in Flagstaff, told the Associated Press that most of the water “ran off almost instantly” because of the steep grade in that part of the canyon. The rain fell on ground that had been stripped bare by the Dragon Bravo fire on the North Rim late in the summer, so with no vegetation left to hold it back, a large mass of mud and rock came pouring down the slope.

One correction is needed against the earliest reports: the bridges were not merely damaged, they were destroyed. Nearly every footbridge over Bright Angel Creek is gone, and both the Black Bridge and Silver Bridge over the Colorado River were destroyed, not just damaged, cutting off both foot traffic and river traffic through that stretch of the canyon.

By Sunday morning, 62 people had been evacuated from Phantom Ranch and the lower end of the North Kaibab Trail and flown by helicopter to the South Rim. The National Park Service said the number of missing people, estimated at 15 to 20, could still change as new information comes in, and it asked anyone with knowledge of hikers or campers who were in Bright Angel Canyon or near Phantom Ranch on Saturday to contact the park’s investigations division.

Evacuated visitor David Gregory described the moments before the flood tore away the bridge he had just crossed with a group of campers.

“It was like a vortex in there, with all that debris swirling around, bungalows and other equipment from the job site.”

According to Gregory, the bridge was destroyed roughly ten minutes after the last person in his group made it to the other side. Had the park not ordered an emergency evacuation, the campers would have been stranded on the far side of the swollen creek.

Colorado River expert and guide Tom Martin told local radio station KJZZ about the scale of the damage to the temporary housing used by crews building a new pipeline through the canyon.

“That flood yesterday took out a bunch of buildings, the temporary housing for the new pipeline. All of their housing is gone now.”

The Transcanyon Pipeline, which supplies the entire park with water, is out of service after the flood, and the National Park Service has introduced water conservation measures until reserves stabilize. In the Colorado River itself, mud and rock debris built up into a natural dam roughly three meters high, halting boat traffic upstream of Phantom Ranch.

Phantom Ranch, the Bright Angel Campground, its canteen and cabins, and the entire North Kaibab Trail between the trailhead and Phantom Ranch are all closed, with no word yet on when they might reopen. The National Weather Service kept a flash flood watch in effect for northern and central Arizona through Monday evening, warning that new landslides and rockfall are possible on trails already weakened by the storm.

The Grand Canyon was the fourth most visited national park in the United States last year, drawing 4.43 million visits. Phantom Ranch, reachable only on foot, by mule, or by boat down the river, is normally booked out months in advance. It is now closed indefinitely while park management assesses how long it will take to rebuild the bridges, the pipeline, and the facilities on the canyon floor.