Friday, August 07, 2015

Flood warning for Havasu Canyon campgrounds

The National Weather Service is warning that heavy rains are expected to cause flooding on Havasu Creek and flood campsites and foot bridges.


This time of year there can be hundreds of campers in the campgrounds in the scenic canyon on the Havasu Reservation just south of the Grand Canyon.  In 2008 (corrected 8-10-15, from 2006), flash floods forced ~400 campers to flee to high ground in the middle of the night.

Flooding in 2010 again washed out footbridges and destroyed campgrounds. [Right, 2010 flood damage. Photo by Brian Gootee, AZGS]

The NWS forecast says:


AT 141 PM MST...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED 
HEAVY RAIN DUE TO THUNDERSTORMS HAD 
FALLEN IN THE CATARACT CREEK BASIN...
SOUTHEAST OF SUPAI VILLAGE. 
THIS WILL CAUSE SMALL STREAM FLOODING.

* SOME LOCATIONS THAT WILL EXPERIENCE FLOODING INCLUDE...SUPAI AND
  HAVASUPAI RESERVATION.
 
A STREAM LEVEL NEAR 17 FEET IS EXPECTED THIS EVENING...BETWEEN 6 PM
AND 9 PM...AT HAVASU CREEK NEAR SUPAI VILLAGE.

AT A STREAM LEVEL OF 17 FEET...MINOR FLOODING WILL OCCUR. FOOT
BRIDGES WILL BE WASHED OUT IN SUPAI CAMPGROUND. SOME CAMPSITES WILL
BE FLOODED. CAMPERS MAY BE STRANDED IN PORTIONS OF THE CAMPGROUND.

2 comments:

  1. 2008 bro not 2010. I was down there. August 29th to be exact. 11:30 at night. Flown out by Blackhawks the next day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Actually I meant to write 2008 instead of 2006 (which is now fixed) and 2010. Both years had serious floods. Thanks for catching the typo.

    ReplyDelete