Hundreds Rescued In Ariz. After Dam Bursts

(AP)  Days of heavy rains around the Grand Canyon caused an earthen dam to fail Sunday and created flooding that forced helicopters to pluck hundreds of residents and campers and deliver them to safety. No injuries were immediately reported.

The failure of the Redlands Dam caused some flooding in Supai, a village on a canyon floor where about 400 members of the Havasupai Native American tribe live, said Grand Canyon National Park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge. The current floods and potential for more required the evacuations, she said.

No structures were damaged after the dam failed about 45 miles upstream from Supai, but some hiking trails and footbridges were washed out, she said.

Even before the rain-swollen dam burst, heavy rainfall since Friday totaling as much as 8 inches caused flooding and problems in the area. Sixteen people in a boating party were stranded on a ledge at the confluence of Havasu Creek and the Colorado River on Saturday night after flood waters carried their rafts away, Oltrogge said.

The boaters were found uninjured and were being rescued from the canyon, whose floor is unreachable in many places except by helicopter.

Rescuers were trying to find visitors staying at the Supai Campground and escort them to safety, Oltrogge said.

Evacuees were being flown to a parking area 8 miles from Supai and bused to a Red Cross shelter in Peach Springs, about 60 miles southwest of Supai, the spokeswoman said.

A flash flood warning was in effect for the area until the early evening. The area received 3 to 6 inches of rain Friday and Saturday and about 2 more inches on Sunday, said Daryl Onton, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Flagstaff, Arizona.

"That's all it took - just a few days of very heavy thunderstorms," he said.

Supai is on Havasu and Cataract creeks, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of Grand Canyon Village, a popular tourist area on the south rim of the canyon. Havasu Creek feeds the Colorado, which runs the length of the canyon.

The flooding came on a weekend during the busy summer tourist season, when thousands of visitors a day flock to the canyon for spectacular views, hikes or to raft its whitewater.

The Grand Canyon has been the traditional home of the Havasupai for centuries.

[rushlimpdrug]

Dam!

[talkingham]

Most of realize it was Al Quaeda that blew the levee in N.O. anyhow. What other American city could be taken down completely with a couple of sticks of TNT.

[talkingham]

That''s right DaVicar since you''re playing the race card- they didn''t have to worry about being shot or getting stuck by drug needles while trying to rescue them either did they? And had these people been given adequate warning they would have left. People who stayed in New Orleans stayed at their own risk and paid the price. If you''re the kind of person who sits on their tail and waits around for the government to help when you''ve ignored warnings to leave then good luck. Many of the people who stayed in N.O. were hoping they would get a huge loot-off going and for the first couple of days after Katrina that''s just what they did isn''t it?

[rbburnerjr]

Billions for Iraq and the oil companies. Pennies for the infrastructure of America. The republicans strike again.

[kmccliment]

how could an earthen dam breach be Bush''s fault. I would like to blame your lack of intelligence on Bush but I know it goes up to your mommy and daddys dna chain.

[beehive21-2009]

You people are crazy,man is nothing on the Earth, Universe do pleases, as it evolves,you all be lucky to survive, the Dinos,didn''t make it ,what makes you think you will.Floods ,Fires ,tornadoes all part of the Gig,so hold on.Man has no control over it, including Bush.

[yampa5]

The global climate change argument is not a salient point in this instance. Flooding is an indispensable part of the Grand Canyon ecosystem. This cycle has been occurring for millions of years in the canyon, especially where tributaries meet the river, as in the case of Havasu. This movement of sediment and debris over millions of years has created the epic whitewater. In short, flooding is not a new phenomenon in the canyon. It is just lucky that no one was hurt.

[yampa5]

The global climate change argument is not a salient point in this instance. Flooding is an indispensable part of the Grand Canyon ecosystem. This cycle has been occurring for millions of years in the canyon, especially where tributaries meet the river, as in the case of Havasu. This movement of sediment and debris over millions of years has created the epic whitewater. In short, flooding is not a new phenomenon in the canyon. It is just lucky that no one was hurt.

[yampa5]

The global climate change argument is not a salient point in this instance. Flooding is an indispensable part of the Grand Canyon ecosystem. This cycle has been occurring for millions of years in the canyon, especially where tributaries meet the river, as in the case of Havasu. This movement of sediment and debris over millions of years has created the epic whitewater. In short, flooding is not a new phenomenon in the canyon. It is just lucky that no one was hurt.

[ausus-2009]

BlackYowe,

If global warming was the cause, there would be less rainfall, not more and therefore no flooding rains.