Rescue efforts resume after Grand Canyon area flooding

[ben_meyers]

Bring back the drought! Now we have too much water.

PEACH SPRINGS - Helicopters resumed evacuating tourists and residents Monday morning from the bottom of a canyon where heavy rains and a breached dam have caused flooding.

Authorities also report they are searching for 20 campers and tourists who remain unaccounted for, said Gerry Blair, a spokesman for the Coconino County Sheriff's Department. He said it's possible those people may have already left but authorities would assume they were still in the canyon until that could be determined.

There are so far no reports of injuries or deaths.

As much as 8 inches of rain had fallen since Friday, causing trouble even before the dam burst. A private boating party of 16 people was stranded on a ledge at the confluence of Havasu Creek and the Colorado River on Saturday night, after floodwaters carried their rafts away, Grand Canyon National Park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge said.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/08/18/20080818canyonflood-on-CP.html

Our resovoirs are also so full that they are releasing water into the Salt River system. I also have a great crop of weeds in my xeroscape yard, I may plant grass again!

See this from friday's lake level report.

http://www.srpwater.com/dwr/report.asp?dt=8/18/2008