PHOENIX – A flash flooding at Havasu Creek on Aug. 22 destroyed bridges and walkways, and left about 200 hikers stranded on the reservation.
“It’s a beautiful place and it’s great to visit, but it’s pretty dangerous this time of year,” said Latricia Mimbs, who is among those stranded.
Many tourists lost all of their belongings, as they rushed to higher ground during a severe thunderstorm.
“We had to cross a lot of water crossings,” said Mimbs. “A lot of the bridges washed out, but we made it back. The tribe let us stay inside one of their buildings, last one with about 200 people.”
Rochelle Tilousi, who lives near Havasu Creek, said Thursday started out as a beautiful day with clear skies, but clouds rolled in by 11:00 a.m., and an hour later, heavy rain came down for at least 30 minutes.
“It was very scary,” said Tilousi. “That’s the second biggest flood I’ve ever experienced in my life.”
Officials with the National Weather Service said the area received between one and two inches of rain within the timeframe of an hour to an hour and a half.
“In that area, there are narrow canyons where the water can accumulate, and in these cases, you see heavy rain falling and accumulating in these narrow canyons, and then rushing down stream in a flash flood,” said Brian Klimowski, a Meteorologist with NWS in Flagstaff.
“As soon as that flood came through, a huge piece of cottonwood tree came through and knocked the whole culvert through,” said Tilousi. “Kids were stranded, visitors were stranded on this side where our house is.”
On Saturday, officials with the Arizona National Guard said they used a Blackhawk helicopter from Aug. 23 to the afternoon of Aug. 24 to evacuate 104 tourists and tribal members. In addition, resupply drop-offs of water and food were made.
“The AZNG evacuation effort concluded at approximately 1:30pm, Saturday August 24th,” read a portion of the statement.
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