North Texas hikers rescued after being trapped by flash floods in Arizona canyon
Two Fort Worth women were rescued in Arizona after flash flooding left them stranded in the Grand Canyon last week, according to local media reports.
Paige Renae and Whitnye Raquel were hiking in the Havasu Canyon — on the Havasupai Indian Reservation — in Arizona when the storm struck the area, about 30 miles west of Grand Canyon Village, they told KXAS-TV.
They were looking forward to the hiking trip of a lifetime, Renae told KXAS.
“It’s a highly sought-after trip,” she said.
The friends say they continue to unpack the trauma of the flood trapping them in the canyon.
After spending several days in the canyon camping, they decided to visit one last waterfall before taking on an eight-mile hike out, according to KXAS.
As Renae and Raquel were leaving the Fifty Foot Falls tourist attraction Thursday, they were met with lightning and thunder, forcing them to run toward a nearby village, Raquel told KXAS.
Within minutes, flash floods broke canyon walls and washed away campsites, KXAS reported.
They began to watch people coming from the campgrounds having been separated from their loved ones.
Boulders blocked the hiking trails, leaving survivors waiting for helicopters to transport them out, according to KXAS. The friends had to wait almost two days to be rescued on Saturday.
“We were bawling, we’re alive, uncontrollable tears, relieved, hugging strangers that we rode out on a helicopter with,” Raquel told KXAS.
Over 100 tourists had to be evacuated from the canyon, according to the Arizona National Guard.
USA Today reported the body of a hiker, 33-year-old Chenoa Nickerson, was found Sunday after vanishing when the flash foods swept the park. She was last seen Thursday before floods struck Havasu Canyon, according to the National Park Service’s news release. Her body was discovered by travelers on a commercial trip in the Colorado River, USA Today reported.
The Havasupai Tribal Council decided to close the attraction to tourists indefinitely due to damages, according to KTVT-TV.
Raquel and Renae told local media that they are hoping to see major changes take place at the site of the canyon before being opened to the public again.
This story was originally published August 27, 2024 at 10:23 PM.
