Survivors of a deadly flash flood that swept through the Grand Canyon over the weekend described a harrowing escape as they ran through rising muddy water in a desperate effort to reach higher ground.
Gabriel Bergemann and David Gregory, who were backpacking in the national park on Saturday afternoon, told ABC News that park rangers directed them to run across a footbridge over a creek. Ten minutes after they crossed, a wall of water surged through and washed the bridge away, Bergemann said.
"If they hadn't told us to evacuate when they did, I think a lot of people wouldn't have made it," he told ABC News. Gregory added that the creek's water level appeared to be "getting bigger and bigger as more water was coming into the creek."
Grand Canyon National Park Service officials confirmed Monday that a second body had been recovered. A search was ongoing for 14 individuals still missing or unaccounted for. Among those missing was Dr. John Guisti, a New York chiropractor, who was with a hiking group when the flood hit.
More than 60 people, primarily hikers and campers, were airlifted from the Grand Canyon's Phantom Ranch and the lower North Kaibab Trail on Saturday, according to park officials. The flood occurred around 2:30 p.m. local time in the Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch areas amid a monsoonal downpour.
Erica Viola and her husband, Scott Svedin, were camping at Bright Angel Campground when they were instructed to evacuate immediately. Svedin described struggling through knee-deep water and mud, while Viola recounted hearing shouts of "Run, Run, Run" as approximately 40 people fled through the deep, muddy water towards the bridge.
"Once we got to the bridge, that's when this 15-foot wall of water came through the campground at Phantom Ranch and just wiped out all the bridges in the creek," Viola said. She reported losing most of her belongings in the flooding.
The flooding caused extensive damage to infrastructure within the inner canyon, including the Transcanyon Waterline, which supplies water for park use. The Grand Canyon National Park Service stated that nearly all footbridges spanning Bright Angel Creek were destroyed, cutting off hiker access across the creek. The Transcanyon Waterline is not operational, leaving the park with limited water reserves and halting all overnight lodging and concessions.
