The Grand Canyon’s notoriously rugged terrain has complicated the search for a missing man following last weekend's flooding in Bright Angel Creek.
On Tuesday, ground teams entered the Phantom Ranch area for the first time since Saturday’s flooding.
“Even moving people around without the established trail system, they’re walking across muddy, slippery, uneven terrain and old footings from bridges — and in this case, entire bridges,” said Brian Bloom, who is leading the incident management team.
He says they’re stabilizing downed power lines as they go. Left alone, they would be hazardous to search crews.
Bloom says personnel must also be careful when landing helicopters on the soft ground.
“Lots of rocks, lots of mud, lots of branches, broken trees, vegetation, all pushed up to high water marks, which is outside normal boundaries of the creek area. In short, it’s a mess,” Bloom said.
Two hikers are confirmed dead from the flooding, which forced more than 80 people to evacuate throughout the weekend. Crews continue to search for one missing man.
In the coming days, ground teams will assess the flood’s impact to structures at Phantom Ranch.
That will include potential damage to the Transcanyon Waterline, which pumps water from Roaring Springs on the North Rim 12.5 miles across the canyon to the South Rim.
A preliminary assessment showed that approximately 40% of the waterline was damaged or destroyed in the flooding.
“Just from flyover, without having folks on the ground, we anticipate miles of the pipeline being destroyed,” Grand Canyon National Park deputy superintendent Brian Drapeaux said at a press conference at the South Rim Monday.
Stage 4 water restrictions remain in effect, with all overnight lodging on the South Rim closed to guests as a result.
“We currently have approximately two weeks of water available in storage,” Drapeaux added.
