What we know so far
• At least two people, including a Texas chiropractor, are dead and roughly a dozen unaccounted for after flash flooding over the weekend ripped through Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.
• The flooding on the canyon floor started Saturday after waves of rainfall thrashed Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch – the only lodging under the rim of the Grand Canyon.
• More showers and thunderstorms are possible today, and a flood watch is in effect through the evening.
Grand Canyon rafting outfitter says all crew and guests are “doing well” after flash flood
A Grand Canyon rafting outfitter said on their website Monday that all its crew and guests have checked in and are “doing well” after a flash flood hit the park over the weekend.
“None of our trips were in the immediate area when the flood occurred,” Grand Canyon Whitewater said on its website. “We have been in satellite communication with each of our crews on the water, and they have all been briefed on the situation and are continuing our trips as planned.”
Grand Canyon Whitewater has resumed operations after the river was reopened following an assessment by National Park Service officials, and all upcoming trips are running as scheduled, the company said.
Crews are still searching for missing Grand Canyon visitors. Catch up here
Search and recovery efforts remain ongoing in Grand Canyon National Park today after a dozen park visitors presumably went missing during deadly flash floods on Saturday, according to an update from the national park. Two people are confirmed dead, and one has been identified as John Giusti, a 46-year-old chiropractor from Texas, the family confirmed.
Meanwhile, park rangers have warned that another deluge could bring more “debris flows, rockfall and changing trail and river conditions.”
Here’s what we know about the flood:
Where it happened: The flooding began Saturday afternoon after waves of rainfall thrashed Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch – the only lodging under the rim of the Grand Canyon. The ranch is located in Arizona and can be reached only on foot, by mule or by rafting the Colorado River.
Feeling the flood’s impact: A water pipeline serving tourists in the area was partially knocked out due to the flood, according to Grand Canyon National Park. “Preliminary assessments indicate approximately 40% of the Transcanyon Waterline was damaged or destroyed,” the park’s update said.
Who was impacted: As of Sunday afternoon, at least 62 people had been evacuated, the Grand Canyon National Park said in a statement. Camp visitors are asked to remain out of the area as search and recovery operations continue, the park service said. Giusti was traveling with his two friends Brent Rosenkranz and Timothy Smith, who are still missing, according to their families.
More rain to come: Today, the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center elevated the risk of flooding rainfall for the area to a Level 3 of 4 threat, meaning numerous flash floods are likely.
Texas chiropractor identified as victim of Grand Canyon floods
Family members have identified the 46-year-old man who died in the Grand Canyon flash floods as John Giusti, according to the Associated Press.
Giusti, a Texas chiropractor, was traveling on a dream trip with his two friends, Brent Rosenkranz and Timothy Smith, the families said. The three men planned to spend two nights in the canyon fishing and exploring. They spoke to their families on Thursday and found their campsite Friday, but their families have not heard from them since, according to the Associated Press.
Searchers are still looking for Rosenkranz and Smith, their families said.
Heavier rain moving toward Grand Canyon
More rain is falling this afternoon at the Grand Canyon and could become more intense in the coming hours.
The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch through Monday evening alerting the potential of flash flooding caused by excessive rain falling on already saturated ground. Additional rainfall could bring more “debris flows, rockfall and changing trail and river conditions,” rangers said.
The risk of flooding rainfall has elevated to a Level 3 of 4 threat, which means numerous flash floods are likely.
Radar currently shows showers stretched across north-central Arizona, dropping light to moderate rain in portions of the park for now.
Rescue medicine expert describes what it’s like on canyon floor as creeks start rising
Dr. Chris Davis, a wilderness and rescue medicine expert and associate professor of emergency medicine at Wake Forest University, said flash flooding in canyons can take people by surprise because the rain could be miles upstream.
“The big issue you have when you’re dealing with flash flooding in some of these canyon environments is [that] as someone’s standing there in this beautiful slide canyon, you may have completely blue skies over you, and heavy precipitation that could be miles upstream from you can fall really without any warning,” Davis said.
“You really only have moments, as the water can rise extremely fast. So, it can really take people by surprise,” he added.
Davis has taught swift water rescue at the Grand Canyon as a volunteer.
Floods hit a century-old, historical lodge
Tucked beside Bright Angel Creek nearly a mile below the canyon rim, Phantom Ranch has welcomed adventurers seeking a rare chance to spend the night at the bottom of the Grand Canyon since 1922.
There are no roads leading to the ranch.
Guests arrive only by hiking, mule ride or rafting down the Colorado River, making it one of the most remote and sought-after reservations in the National Park system and the only lodging below the canyon rim.
For more than a century, Phantom Ranch has served as a remote refuge at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
Opened in 1922, construction was carried out mostly by foot and mules, as documented by historical photographs from the National Park Service.
That isolation is now complicating recovery efforts after a powerful flash flood swept through Bright Angel Canyon on Saturday. As of Saturday, 62 people had been evacuated from Phantom Ranch and the lower North Kaibab Trail, according to the National Park Service.
Officials say nearly all footbridges spanning Bright Angel Creek were destroyed, while trails, utilities and other infrastructure suffered significant damage.
Phantom Ranch, the nearby Bright Angel Campground and large sections of the inner canyon trail network remain closed indefinitely, although the conditions of the structure are not yet clear.
The flood transformed the area surrounding the ranch. Witnesses described debris-filled water carrying mud, rocks and fallen trees through the canyon, while park officials have warned that additional rainfall could trigger more flooding, debris flows and rockfalls.
This is the second historical structure in Grand Canyon National Park affected by a natural disaster in as many years.
In July 2025, a wildfire tore through the North Rim of the Canyon and destroyed the Grand Canyon Lodge, the only lodging inside the park at the North Rim.
Woman uses bare foot to keep her tent stable as winds battered it
The flooding on the Grand Canyon floor began Saturday after waves of heavy rain pounded the national park.
Wieke De Boer recounted battling extreme weather as floodwaters threatened her safety. She was outside her tent on Saturday, looking toward the South Rim, when dark skies approached. Taking shelter inside, she used her foot to brace her tent against the battering winds as water began seeping in.
“It was so crazy. There was so much wind,” De Boer said. “The frame of the tent was collapsing onto me, so I had to crouch down and either hold it up with my foot, or later I got up and tried to hold it down or hold it up.”
She added that she used her hands to keep the frame from collapsing, and then about 3 inches of water collected under her tent and around it.
She kept peeking out of her tent to check whether the nearby creek was rising.
When it calmed down a little bit, De Boer said she wanted to see if there was anything she could do to get out of the 3 inches of water she was in or maybe stake the tent down better.
“And that’s when the rangers came by and told me to start evacuating.”
Man describes what happened when flooding hit
David Gregory recounted that he and his group were settling into their cabin at Phantom Ranch, organizing and unpacking before a ranger talk and dinner, when a park ranger knocked on every door. She initially advised everyone to prepare in case an evacuation became necessary.
About ten minutes later, the ranger returned, this time with greater urgency, Gregory recalled.
She told them this was now a mandatory evacuation and the group needed to grab their stuff and go.
Gregory, who has visited the Grand Canyon at least six times, recalled that Bright Angel Creek was typically clear and gentle—perfect for cooling off on a hot day.
“This time around though, even before the rain hit, it was a black creek, and it had kind of debris in it, and it was moving faster than like the normal speed. It was moving very quickly,” Gregory said. “When the rain hit, and the rain continued more, it just got faster and faster. It was probably moving faster than I think I could run.”
Grand Canyon flood survivor: “It was the most terrifying experience of my life”
Jeffrey Yates was supposed to be on day two of a once-in-a-lifetime trip with a friend, hiking into the depths of the Grand Canyon. But instead he found himself being evacuated by helicopter, flying up into the sky.
The day before, Yates, 41, had finished hiking seven miles from the North Rim down to Cottonwood Campground, where he set up camp and got settled in to enjoy the rest of the day. That’s when the rain started to come in — “an insane amount of wind and hail,” as he described it. “We started to hear a sound that we knew wasn’t really thunder,” he told CNN. “We looked over at the creek and just saw this wall of water rushing down.”
Yates couldn’t help but think of the last summer’s deadly Texas floods. They found bathrooms that were a little higher up, but worried the Bright Angel Creek would keep rising, so they began to scale up the canyon some more.
The rain continued to pour. With each step up the canyon he took, Yates feared what might come down: rockslides, landslides or more flooding.
“It was the most terrifying experience of my life so far,” he said.
When the rain subsided, Yates and his friend came back down and started gathering with other hikers who had also scaled up the canyon. Using an emergency phone at the campground, they reached the National Park Service, and a park ranger hiked to their site within two hours. He told them they needed to stay at the campground overnight while rescuers evacuated people lower down in the canyon at Phantom Ranch, where Yates and his friend were supposed to go the next day.
The park ranger also went to collect another group of stranded hikers and brought them to Cottonwood Campground.
At about 10:30 the next morning, a helicopter took the hikers out four at a time. That’s when Yates learned that at least 15 people were unaccounted for.
“That’s heartbreaking,” he said. “What we saw would have been hard to survive if you got swept away in it.”
Flooding knocks out water pipeline serving tourists at Grand Canyon
Flooding at Grand Canyon National Park has knocked out a water pipeline serving tourists in the area, leaving it with limited water resources, park officials said. This will significantly limit visitor activity at the park ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend.
The affected water pipeline provides potable water and fire suppression for all facilities on the South Rim, an area with a large concentration of hiking trails, scenic viewpoints, lodging and visitor services.
The powerful floodwaters also widened the creek bed, forming what appeared to be a new river rapid, The Associated Press reported.
The Bright Angel Trail is the most popular hiking trail into the canyon, according to the park service.
A worried family waits for answers
John Giusti, a 46-year-old chiropractor from Texas, is among the missing after deadly flooding in the Grand Canyon, according to The New York Times.
The avid runner and hiker was on his first hiking trip through the canyon alongside two friends, his sister Valerie Gibbs told the newspaper.
Giusti posted photos of his adventure on his chiropractic office’s Facebook page, and just 30 minutes before raging torrents swept through the canyon, he was in contact with his family, Gibbs said. It was the last time relatives heard from Giusti.
In a separate, now-deleted post, his wife Janet Giusti said her husband’s hiking group “is among those currently reported missing and unaccounted for,” the Times reported.
“We ask our ChiroHabit community to please lift up my husband, his hiking group, and our families in your thoughts and prayers during this time,” the post said.
“Waterfalls coming up out of nowhere”: Grand Canyon visitors scramble to safety amid flooding
Visitors to the Grand Canyon described narrowly escaping dangerous flood conditions.
One couple was able to get out of harm’s way as they fled to their cabin.
“As they were being evacuated, they could see that the bridges that they had crossed just 15 minutes earlier had been washed away,” a Red Cross spokesperson told CNN affiliate KTVK/KPHO.
David Gregory was hiking with a small group when flood waters came. He was evacuated by helicopter before eventually being set up with a hotel room for the night.
“We realized the creek near camp was black with debris and flowing rapidly,” he told CNN.
Parth Desai scrambled into a patch cacti as a 4-foot wall of debris rushed toward them in the Phantom Ranch area. His group was also rescued by helicopter.
“We saw the creek flood, waterfalls coming up out of nowhere, boulders, mud, landslides happening everywhere,” Desai told The Associated Press.
Christopher Dry, from Arizona, and his son were hiking along higher ground when they saw a bolt of lightning, rain and “zero visibility” just minutes later. “The clouds actually (formed) below and rose up out of the canyon quickly,” he told CNN.
Deadly flash flooding tears through the Grand Canyon
One of the nation’s most famously arid landmarks succumbed to deadly flash flooding over the weekend, leaving at least two people dead and roughly a dozen unaccounted for as more rain could lash Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona on Monday.
The body of a 46-year-old man’s was found near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River, park officials said. His identity and the name of the second victim have not been released.
Earlier, the National Park Service said about 15 people could be missing after “nearly all footbridges spanning Bright Angel Creek were destroyed, eliminating hiker access across the creek.”
The flooding on the canyon floor started Saturday afternoon after waves of rainfall thrashed Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch – the only lodging under the rim of the Grand Canyon. The ranch can be reached only on foot, by mule or by rafting the Colorado River.
