Grand Canyon National Park remains unscathed by nearby flooding

Grand Canyon National Park remains open and trouble-free amid the rains that have prompted flooding and rescues in Supai Canyon, an Indian reservation about 75 miles west of the canyon’s South Rim.

“The primary area for all of this going on is … west of the primary village and just south of the Grand Canyon corridor,” said spokeswoman Shannon Marcak. “Within the Grand Canyon, we have not received any known damage.”

Marcak said there had been heavy rainfall at times over the weekend due to the afternoon storms that appear during the park’s “monsoon season.” Weather forecasts call for a 20% chance of isolated thunderstorms tonight decreasing to 10% in the afternoon on Tuesday. The National Weather Service says northern Arizona received 3 to 6 inches of rain Friday and 2 inches more on Sunday, according to the Associated Press.

The rain caused the breach of the Redlands Earthen Dam at 6 a.m. Sunday, which prompted authorities to evacuate campers and residents in the area. About 170 residents from Supai were evacuated by Sunday night and the effort continued today.

– Mary Forgione, Los Angeles Times staff writer

[Photo: Officials rescue a stranded boater Sunday after flooding caused a dam to break; by National Park Service]

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 at 4:57 pm by Mary Forgione and is filed under Arizona, Outdoors & Adventure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.