One person is still unaccounted for after powerful flash floods tore through parts of the Grand Canyon, prompting the rescue of 80 hikers and the recovery of two bodies, officials said.
The sudden flooding struck sections of the iconic canyon at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday, sending fast-moving water across trails near the Colorado River and catching hikers and backpackers in its path.
Incident Commander Dave Black said during a Monday night news conference that search teams worked through the dangerous conditions using night-vision goggles and other specialized equipment to locate people in need of rescue.
By Saturday evening, crews had rescued 45 people. Another 37 were evacuated on Sunday as authorities pressed on with efforts to find 15 hikers who had been reported missing.
Throughout Monday, park rangers relied on Grand Canyon National Park’s permit system and checked vehicle license plates to narrow the list of those still missing.
‘As of right now, they have no reason to believe, from the tips we´ve been through so far, that there’s anybody besides the one’ missing person, Black said.
The threat, however, was not over. The flooding badly damaged the canyon’s sole water pipeline, while forecasters warned that additional flash flooding remained possible overnight.
In response, officials have prohibited visitors from staying in lodges and hotels inside Grand Canyon National Park and imposed emergency water restrictions on residents who live there year-round.
Parts of the scenic canyon were hit by significant flash flooding on Saturday around 2.30pm, sweeping hikers and backpackers off the trails near the Colorado River. This handout image released by the National Park Service shows remnants of stone bridge pylons that were decimated in the flash floods
Debris is seen being taken downstream during the flash flooding on Saturday
The flood occurred deep in the canyon near where the Colorado River flows, around popular lodges and camping areas where people hiking from one rim of the Grand Canyon to the other stop for the night.
About half an inch to an inch of rain fell within just half an hour in the rocky area where there’s a steep drop in elevation, said National Weather Service meteorologist Justin Johndrow in Flagstaff.
‘Most of it ran off instantly,’ Johndrow said.
Horrific videos from the scene in the Grand Canyon showed mudslides tearing through the landscape, as hikers filmed from a suspended bridge above.
Large mounds of debris were also seen floating on the brown water.
Scores of visitors then had to be evacuated from the area by helicopter. They talked of a massive deluge and rangers warning of rockslides, and saw huge pools of logs and debris rolling down the river as they stood nearby awaiting rescue.
Hiker Daniel Evans said it rained several times before the worst 30-minute downpour Saturday afternoon. He had been planning to rest through the hot day and spend the night near the hard-hit Bright Angel campground area.
Just one hiker remains missing as of Monday evening
People wait near a bridge as a helicopter flies nearby amid the flash flooding
Earlier, rangers told him it looked to be safe. Then, as the rain poured, they told him it was time to go. He thought of Nepal and the massive floods and landslides that poured down mountain valleys last week.
‘The entire time it was raining – the entire time I´m going through all this and packing – I’m just keeping my eyes upstream, just praying that a wall of water isn’t coming toward us,’ Evans said.
Gabe Bergemann also told how he and his family were at the Phantom Ranch when he told CBS News what looked like a ‘whole monsoon basically hit the campground in the cabins area.’
His family was then among the 60 people told to flee their cabins and cross a footbridge as the waters rose.
But just about 10 minutes after they got across, the flood destroyed the footbridge and Bergemann and his family had to be rescued hours later.
Looking back, David Gregory, who was traveling with Bergemann’s family, said if the park rangers hadn’t ordered everybody to evacuate when they did, all of the campers could have been left trapped on the other side of the creek.
‘It was like a whirlpool in there, with all the debris circling around, cabins and other equipment from the maintenance work site,’ he recounted.
‘I don’t think we would have made it out alive… I think it would have been game over.’
Dr John Giusti, 46, has been confirmed dead by family members launched a GoFundMe campaign. Giusi uploaded this photo of himself at the canyon to Facebook on Friday
‘The Giusti family is facing an unimaginable loss after John Giusti passed away in the flash floods of the Grand Canyon on Saturday August 29th, 2026,’ reads the fundraiser
But the massive flooding did take the life of John Giusti, 53, a Texas chiropractor who set out Thursday on a trip he dreamed of with his two buddies – Texas martial arts studio owner Brent Rosenkranz, 42, and Wyoming pilot Timothy Smith, 53.
Giusti was living out ‘a lifetime dream exploring the majesty of the Grand Canyon when tragedy struck,’ his wife, Janet, said in an online fundraiser.
‘While our grief is as vast and profound as the canyon itself, we find a small comfort in knowing he spent his final moments surrounded by breathtaking beauty, living life to the fullest,’ his wife added.
Giusti shared photos on Friday showing himself smiling against scenic canyon backdrops during the hike.
A second body was recovered on Monday, Park Service officials said, but have not yet released any information about the victim.
Meanwhile, authorities are continuing to comb through the park to determine the full extent of the damage.
Incident Commander Dave Black speaks during a press conference on Monday
The flash flooding severely damaged the only water pipeline into the canyon
But already Grand Canyon Deputy Superintendent Brian Drapeaux said officials anticipate ‘miles of the pipeline being destroyed.’
He described the park’s Transcanyon Waterline, a 12-and-a-half mile water pipeline constructed in the 1960s as ‘battered, bruised and decimated in certain areas.’
The pipeline that serves visitors and roughly 1,600 residents of Grand Canyon Village had been undergoing a $208 million rehabilitation, with upgrades to the associated water delivery system started in 2023.
Park Service officials have called it a crucial investment to ensure the park can meet the needs of residents and visitors. The project was expected to be completed next year.
While the Grand Canyon has large storage tanks for potable water on the South Rim, they won´t be refilled while the pipeline is out of service.
In the meantime, Drapeaux said, there is enough water to last about two weeks in storage.
Storm clouds gathered as visitors took photos at the Grand Canyon on Monday
But conditions at the scenic canyon may only worsen with more wet weather expected throughout the night that can cause even more flooding.
Visiting the Grand Canyon can be particularly dangerous in the summer because of the risk of flash flooding that accompanies the monsoon, or rainy season. Clear days can quickly give way to thunderstorms and downpours.
Rain also fell on part of the Dragon Bravo fire scar, a burn area left by a lightning-caused wildfire in July 2025. It burned for days before exploding into a fast-moving conflagration that forced evacuations and consumed the historic Grand Canyon Lodge, some cabins and other structures.
Without vegetation, a barren burn scar allows runoff to flow more quickly.
The steep, rocky nature of the canyon itself funnels water rapidly. What might be a normal summer downpour somewhere else can become a charging wall of water in the canyon.
This year’s heavy monsoon rains are especially intense because there is a higher amount of water vapor in the atmosphere, mostly because of a strong El Nino, said A Park Williams, a hydroclimatologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The natural warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean can warp weather globally. That extra water vapor in the southwest US gets wrung out in the storm in the form of rainfall, he said.
