Grand Canyon Flood "Pretty Scary", = Tourists, Residents Recount Ordeal After Successful Airlift To Safety = Following Flash Floods

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Grand Canyon Flood "Pretty Scary"

Tourists, Residents Recount Ordeal After = Successful Airlift=20 To Safety Following Flash Floods

PHOENIX, Aug. 18, 2008

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A stranded rafter is lowered to shore by a = National Park=20 Service employee after being short hauled across the Colorado = River=20 Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008, in the Grand Canyon. A private boating = party of 16=20 people was stranded on a ledge at the confluence of Havasu Creek = and the=20 Colorado River after flood waters carried their rafts=20 away. (AP Photo/National Park = Service)

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Dam Break Floods Canyon Town

Rescue = helicopters are=20 pulling residents from the Grand Canyon where an earthen dam = failed,=20 flooding the small town of Supai, Ariz. Clara Leka reports. | Share/Embed

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Hundreds=20 Rescued In Ariz. After Dam = Bursts

(CBS/AP) Approximately=20 50 tourists and Hualapai Tribe members spent the night in a = shelter after=20 being lifted out of a flood-devastated gorge off the side of the = Grand=20 Canyon by helicopters.

People were airlifted by helicopter = after=20 heavy rains caused an earthen dam gave way. Residents and campers = were=20 plucked from Supai, Arizona yesterday.

"Just like you = would think=20 in a movie, a flash flood comes out of nowhere, that's exactly = what=20 happened and we ran to higher ground, and it never went down after = that,"=20 said evacuee Michael Rodgers.

Rafter Dylan Hennings = described a=20 "huge wall of water coming at you - it's pretty scary." =

Dozens of=20 people spent the night at an American Red Cross evacuation center = set up=20 in the Hualapai Tribal Gymnasium in nearby Peach Springs. =

Tracey=20 Kiest, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, said the shelter = was=20 located in a gymnasium in Peach Springs. She said they were making = preparations for the possibility of accomodating more people, = adding that=20 the shelter would be in operation as long as it was needed. =

Some=20 people who were believed to be in the side canyon along Supai = Creek were=20 unaccounted for after the flood struck on Sunday.

However, = CBS=20 News correspondent Claire Leka reported that so far no people = have=20 been reported injured.

The area of northern Arizona got 3 = to 6=20 inches of rain Friday and Saturday and about 2 inches more on = Sunday, said=20 Daryl Onton, a National Weather Service meteorologist in = Flagstaff. Early=20 Monday, about 0.80 of an inch more fell on the area, the weather = service=20 said.

"That's all it took - just a few days of very heavy=20 thunderstorms," Onton said.

A flash flood warning remains = in=20 effect for the area.

Rescuers planned to evaluate weather=20 conditions and the level of flooding Monday morning before = deciding when=20 they could safely resume air evacuations, said Grand Canyon = National Park=20 spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge.

"We Lost = Everything"=20

About 6 a.m. Sunday, the Redlands Earthen Dam about 45 = miles=20 upstream from the Hualapai village of Supai broke, park officials = said.=20 The dam isn't a "huge, significant" structure and its rupture was = only one=20 factor in the flooding, said Gerry Blair, a spokesman for the = Coconino=20 County Sheriff's Department.

On Sunday, Cedar Hemmings and = his=20 small party returned from a hike to the spot where they had tied = their=20 rafts and discovered they were stranded by the flood.

"We = were=20 basically stuck up the canyon without our rafts," he said. "We had = no=20 supplies, no food and very little water, we lost everything." =

Just = like you would think in a movie, a flash flood comes out of = nowhere.

Evacuee = Michael=20 Rodgers
Hemmings and his group were airlifted out of = the scenic=20 gorge by helicopter Sunday, along with about 170 other people.=20

Rescuers worked throughout the day to locate campers and = Supai=20 Village residents and evacuate them to the top of the canyon. = About 400=20 Havasupai tribe members live in the village.

Many = residents and=20 campers chose to stay in Supai, Blair said. There were no = confirmed=20 reports of damage in Supai, which is on high ground, he said.=20

"We're not as concerned about it as we initially were," he = said.=20

Some hiking trails and footbridges were washed out and = trees were=20 uprooted, according to park officials and the weather service.=20

Supai is about 75 miles west of Grand Canyon Village, the = popular=20 gateway to Grand Canyon National Park.

In 2001, flooding = near=20 Supai swept a 2-year-old boy and his parents to their deaths while = they=20 were hiking.

=A9 MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. = All Rights=20 Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, = rewritten, or=20 redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this = report.

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Grand Canyon Flood "Pretty Scary"

Tourists, Residents Recount Ordeal After = Successful Airlift=20 To Safety Following Flash Floods

Dam Break Floods Canyon Town

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