One person died and about 15 people are missing or unaccounted for after a major flash flood at the Grand Canyon forced evacuations, swept large boulders into the Colorado River and knocked out the sole water pipeline that serves tourists and residents, the US National Park Service said on Sunday.

The body of a 46-year-old man was recovered near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River.

Weekend flooding in Arizona’s Bright Angel Creek, which flows into the river, happened on Saturday afternoon. More than 60 people were evacuated from the depths of the canyon.

The park service said it had yet to account for 15 people and asked anyone with details about hikers or campers in the canyon to get in touch.

Because the main water line was out of service, starting on Monday tourists won't be able to stay overnight at lodges and hotels within Grand Canyon National Park.

Year-round residents are being asked to conserve water.

Parth Desai was hiking through a narrow passage in Bright Angel Canyon with fellow physicians and a park ranger when the downpour started on Saturday.

“We saw the creek flood, waterfalls coming up out of nowhere, boulders, mud, landslides happening everywhere,” he said.

Later, as they made their way toward Phantom Ranch, a colleague shouted “Up, Up, Up, Up!” as a four-foot debris wall headed towards them and they ran up into a patch of cacti, he said.

They were rescued by helicopter late on Saturday after making it to the Phantom Ranch area, he said.

Torrents of water wiped out footbridges over the creek and altered the landscape, widening the creek bed and extending an existing river rapid or creating a new one.

The flood was a major blow to an enduring effort to modernise the pipeline that serves six million visitors a year and roughly 1,600 residents of Grand Canyon Village. (AP)



Edited by Edmond Fong