Missing Grand Canyon hiker’s body found after flash flooding after rescuing more than 100 people

Following more than a hundred rescues due to flash floods in Grand Canyon National Park, the body of a missing hiker was found along the Colorado River on Sunday. The National Park Service reports that search and rescue efforts got underway on Thursday after hiker Chenoa Nickerson, 33, was washed into Havasu Creek in the park due to flash floods. Her body was found on Sunday on the Colorado River close to mile 176 by a commercial river trip company.

According to a press release issued by the park service on Sunday, an investigation is being carried out by them and the medical examiner for Coconino County.

Additionally, because of dangerous floods, the Havasupai Tribe’s grounds were in a canyon, and the Arizona National Guard had to utilize a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter to evacuate 104 visitors and tribal members. Monsoon storm-related flooding on Thursday resulted in multiple emergency evacuations and a closure of the area to tourists by local authorities.

In Grand Canyon National Park, ground searchers make their way through Havasu Creek following flash floods. The Havasupai Tribal Council said in a news release on Saturday that tribal elders have also closed the isolated community of Supai, which is situated eight miles below the Grand Canyon’s rim. According to KNXV, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs called upon the Arizona National Guard to support rescue operations on the Havasupai Indian Reservation, which is encircled by Grand Canyon National Park. According to CNN meteorologists, there won’t be any rain in the area in the upcoming days.

As they hiked in the Havasupai Indian Reservation on Thursday, a married couple from North Carolina told CNN that nothing could have prepared them for what was about to unfold. On July 31, 2024, after a visitor fell off the rim of the Grand Canyon’s Pipe Creek Overlook, responders oversee a high angle technical rescue system.

The 34-year-old Shruti Chopra said she was aware that rain was expected, but she had not expected severe flash flooding. “We were not even aware that we were in danger,” the woman admitted to CNN.A man on a mule, whom Chopra identified as a Native American, saw them waiting for the rain to stop and exclaimed, “Higher ground! elevated terrain. They began climbing as soon as they heard the panic in his voice and realized how quickly the land was beginning to flood. The six of them started walking toward the closest settlement after they gained some elevation.

“We formed human chains, crossed rivers, and hacked through thorny bushes and cacti for the next three hours,” Chopra recalled. She claimed that at one point, a massive boulder struck a tree directly in front of them, sending a huge branch flying in their direction. Chopra reported that upon reaching the settlement, they were welcomed by fellow trekkers. She was evacuated by the National Guard. To escape getting wet, she and her spouse—along with a family of four—ducked into a cove, according to Chopra. Waiting for the rain to let up, a man on a mule,