FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The bodies of a Texas chiropractor and a lifelong martial artist have been recovered after a powerful flash flood tore through the Grand Canyon, officials said Monday. One person was still missing after rescue crews evacuated roughly 80 others over the weekend.
The Saturday flood caused severe damage to the only water pipeline serving Grand Canyon National Park, forcing officials to block tourists from staying in lodges and hotels inside the park. Emergency water restrictions were also put in place for year-round residents. The flooding followed bursts of torrential rain in the Bright Angel Creek area, a heavily visited part of the park, which draws about 4.4 million visitors annually.
Grand Canyon Deputy Superintendent Brian Drapeaux said crews have not yet completed a full assessment of the destruction, though park officials have said about 40% of the pipeline was damaged.
Incident Commander Dave Black said search teams relied on night-vision gear and other equipment to locate people stranded during the sudden deluge. By sunset Saturday, 45 people had been rescued, followed by 37 additional evacuations on Sunday.
Park rangers used the Grand Canyon permit system and checked vehicle license plates as they worked to determine how many people remained unaccounted for.
“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 at a news conference Monday evening.
The flood threatened people who hike far into the Grand Canyon
The flash flood struck deep inside the canyon along Bright Angel Creek, which feeds into the Colorado River near Phantom Ranch. The area includes historic dormitories, a canteen and a campground often used by river rafters and hikers traveling rim to rim across the Grand Canyon.
Dozens of visitors were flown out by helicopter. Some described an overwhelming rush of water, with rangers warning of possible rockslides as large tangles of logs and debris swept down the river while people waited nearby for 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.
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.
Two hikers are identified as rescuers search for their friend
The families of chiropractor John Giusti and martial arts studio owner Brent Rosenkranz, 42, identified them as the two people whose bodies have been recovered, said Hannah Barricks, a liaison for the families.
A third buddy – 53-year-old Wyoming pilot Timothy Smith – went on the trip with them and was still missing, Barricks said late Monday by text message.
The men spoke to their families Thursday and found their campsite Friday at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. They have not been heard from since, the three families said in a joint statement released earlier Monday through Barricks.
All three men had ties to Granbury, Texas. Their families said they planned “several days of hiking, camping, fishing and exploring together.”
In a statement, Giusti’s family described him as a devoted father of three and a “real-life superhero.”
John was a husband, devoted father of three daughters and chiropractor whose family describes him as a real-life superhero.
He poured himself into helping others and brought tremendous energy to everything he loved. He was an avid runner, loved fast cars and was a passionate fan of comic books and their legendary heroes. But among all the roles John carried, his family says his favorite was being a father. Exploring the Grand Canyon was a longtime dream for John.
“To the community, he was a gifted healer. To his friends, a powerhouse of life. To his daughters, he was their ultimate hero. To me, he was my whole world,” his wife, Janet Giusti, said. The Giusti family is deeply grateful for the love, prayers and support surrounding them as they grieve this unimaginable loss.
Park officials said they recovered the body of a 46-year-old man Sunday evening near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River and, later, recovered a second body but provided no other details.
It’s ‘monsoon season’ in the Grand Canyon
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 on the North Rim.
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.
El Niño has this year’s monsoon in the desert especially intense
This year’s monsoon is especially intense because there is a higher amount of water vapor in the atmosphere, mostly because of a strong El NiÃo, 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 U.S. gets wrung out in the storm in the form of rainfall, he said.
The link to human-caused climate change and the heavy Arizona rain is pretty strong, said climate scientist Daniel Swain of the California Institute for Water Resources.
A few months ago, Swain and colleagues published a study in the journal Weather and Climate Extremes finding that during the summer, short-term intense downpours in the West – akin to the one that hit the Grand Canyon – have become 10% stronger since 2000.
The flood knocks out the canyon’s water supply line
The flood was a major blow to an enduring effort to modernize the water pipeline that serves visitors and the roughly 1,600 residents of Grand Canyon Village.
A $208 million rehabilitation of the pipeline and upgrades to the associated water delivery system started in 2023, with the park service calling 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, though that timeline is now unclear.
While the Grand Canyon has large storage tanks for potable water on the South Rim, they won’t be refilled because the pipeline is out of service.
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Stengle reported from Dallas. Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City; Seth Borenstein in Kensington, Maryland; Mikella Schuettler in Phoenix; Julie Walker in New York City; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed.
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