SUPAI, Arizona (AP) — Search crews again combed the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park on Sunday in search of an Arizona woman who has been missing since a flash flood several days earlier.
National Park Service officials said 33-year-old Chenoa Nickerson fell into Havasu Creek above the mouth of the Colorado River at about 1:30 p.m. Thursday. She was not wearing a life jacket.
Nickerson is from Gilbert, a suburb of Phoenix. She was hiking along Havasu Creek, about a half-mile from where the creek empties into the Colorado River, when the flash flood struck.
Nickerson’s husband was among more than 100 people who were safely evacuated.
“Chenoa Nickerson is still missing,” Nickerson’s sister Tamara Morales said on social media on Sunday.
“Attempts to locate Chenoa through her Apple Watch have been unsuccessful,” Morales added. “Do NOT give up hope. She will be found.”
Search on Sunday
Park officials said they focused the air, land and motorboat search on Sunday at the confluence of Havasu Creek and the Colorado River.
Chenoa Nickerson stayed overnight at a campground near the village of Supai on the Havasupai Reservation, deep in the Grand Canyon.
The flood has trapped several hikers in the area above and below Beaver Falls, one of several normally blue-green waterfalls that attract tourists from around the world to the Havasupai Tribe’s reservation. The area is prone to flooding, which turns the famous falls chocolate brown.
Other hikers reached the village, about 3.2 kilometers from the campsite, where they waited for their helicopter flight.
Governor Katie Hobbs activated the Arizona National Guard, including Blackhawk helicopters, to help evacuate hikers from the village.
National Guard officials said about 104 tribal members and tourists have been evacuated near Havasupai Falls since Thursday after being stranded there by flooding.
The Havasupai Tribe’s reservation is one of the most remote in the continental United States. It is only accessible on foot, by mule or by helicopter.
Helicopter evacuations began after bridges were washed away and rescue workers fanned out amid a series of massive waterfalls.
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