Death toll rises from Grand Canyon flooding; hotel accommodations now closed

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Flooding at Grand Canyon claims at least two lives; over a dozen remain missing.
Grand Canyon facilities and trails closed due to flooding and infrastructure damage.
Stage 4 water restrictions and hotel closures impact visitor accommodations and services.

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK — At least two people are confirmed dead due to flooding at the Grand Canyon over the weekend, while over a dozen people remain missing or unaccounted.

A second body was recovered, Grand Canyon National Park rangers said in a statement on Monday. Search and recovery efforts are still underway for others who may have been swept up in the storms.

Officials have not identified either hiker who presumably died from the flooding, nor have they identified any of the unaccounted hikers.

Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Campground, the Phantom Ranch Canteen and cabins, as well as the entire North Kaibab Trail from the North Kaibab Trailhead to Phantom Ranch, remain closed until further notice.

"Visitors are asked to remain out of the closure area while search and recovery operations continue," the agency wrote.

The flooding comes from the same moisture pattern that caused flooding and severe weather across southern and central Utah over the weekend. Rain remained in the forecast again for both Arizona and Utah on Monday.

Grand Canyon park officials have also implemented Stage 4 water restrictions and closed overnight hotel accommodations after flooding severely damaged the inner canyon's infrastructure. Approximately 40% of the Transcanyon Waterline was damaged on Saturday, severely impacting the system that supplies water from the canyon to park visitors.

The hotel closure affects El Tovar, Bright Angel Lodge, Maswik Lodge, Phantom Ranch and Delaware North's Yavapai Lodge and Trailer Village. It doesn't apply to hotels in Tusayan, Arizona, which fall outside of park operations.

Only "dry camping" is permitted beginning this week, and campgrounds across the South Rim will not have spigot access. Water spigot access will only be available at the Mather Campground check-in kiosk, while bathroom faucets will also remain operational.

Residents and visitors are asked to conserve water by limiting showers to five minutes or less, turning off faucets while shaving or brushing teeth, flushing toilets selectively and washing laundry with full loads. All leaks should also be reported to the appropriate offices.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.