Fifteen people were unaccounted for at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona after a “significant flash flood” struck the area Saturday, park officials said.
The National Park Service on Sunday 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 revised an earlier estimate of those unaccounted for or missing to 15, from 20.
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.”