The number of people unaccounted for after catastrophic weekend floods that killed two others in the Grand Canyon has dropped to one from 15, the incident commander on the site said Monday.
Officials know the person is missing based on permit checks, but day hikers may have been in the area before the flash floods, incident commander Dave Black said at a news conference Monday evening. The floods were triggered by monsoonal rains that struck the national park.
“As far as permitting and cross-checking all the people that we know of, we have one person unaccounted for,” Black said.
The body of a 46-year-old man was recovered from Crystal Rapids on the Colorado River, the National Park Service said Sunday evening. Officials have not released his name.
The recovery of a second body was announced Monday. It was not immediately clear when that body was found. That victim’s details were not released.
Texas chiropractor John Giusti, 46, died in the flood, his family and the families of two others said Monday.
In a statement, the families said Giusti was with friends Brent Rosenkranz and Timothy Smith and that Rosenkranz and Smith were missing. It was unclear Monday night whether the second person who died and the person still missing were either Rosenkranz or Smith.
Their families said the friends had been looking forward to the trip.
Exploring the Grand Canyon had been a longtime dream for Giusti, his family said. He had a wife and three daughters.
“To the community, he was a gifted healer. To his friends, a powerhouse of life. To his daughters, he was their ultimate hero. To me, he was my whole world,” his wife, Janet Giusti, said in a statement.
Giusti promoted his Grand Canyon trip on social media for his patients and said he would provide stretching, hydration and chiropractic tips to followers.
Less than a day before the flash flood, he posted a selfie and other landscape shots from his trip. “Day one Arrived at the Grand Canyon,” he wrote.
Beginning Saturday, visitors were evacuated from Phantom Ranch and other parts of the Grand Canyon by helicopter, Black said. Eighty-two in all had been rescued from the area by Sunday, he said.
Officials made “hundreds of calls” and checked license plates to reduce the number of people unaccounted for to 15, then to 12 by Monday morning and then to one known person, Black said. Some have responded to messages and said they were safely out, he said.
“As of right now, they have no reason to believe, from the tips we’ve been through so far, that there’s anybody besides the one that we’re looking for,” he said.
About 7 million people were under flood watches Monday, covering a massive swath of the Southwest from southern Arizona to northern Colorado. The area includes the Grand Canyon and stretches west into Utah, according to weather projections.
The most severe threat was just north of the Grand Canyon.
Phantom Ranch, a historic lodge at the bottom of Grand Canyon National Park, and a nearby trail were considered primary danger zones after the flooding. Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Campground and a large section of the North Kaibab Trail were closed Monday, and as much as 40% of the Transcanyon Waterline had been affected, officials said.
The 12 ½-mile pipeline is the park’s main water supply system, and much of it was damaged or destroyed. Administrators said there was damage to the Transcanyon Waterline, “leaving the park with limited water reserves.”
As a result, campgrounds were without water, and fires were prohibited beginning Monday. “Visitors and residents are asked to conserve water as the park assesses flood damage and works to stabilize the water system,” the park service wrote on X.
Construction of a modernized pipeline has been underway since 2023 in the vicinity of Phantom Ranch, a $208 million project that has been interrupted by the natural disaster.
Park service officials said all footbridges along Bright Angel Creek were destroyed in the flooding that began Saturday, eliminating all crossings for hikers. Campsites and hiking paths in the vicinity were closed until further notice.
Images show rivers of muddy water barreling through lowlands, carrying cabins away from campsites, along with branches and other debris.
Evacuated visitors were still reeling from the experience.
David Gregory told NBC News that he crossed a footbridge to safety from Phantom Ranch before flooding wrecked the structure. He was then airlifted out of the area.
“It was kind of crazy hearing after that the bridge that we crossed was wiped out — kind of makes you think that maybe we should have been in more of a panic,” he said after he was taken to safety with about 50 other people.
Another video showed a man on a footbridge marveling at the natural disaster under his feet.
“We’re cooked!” the man said.
The park service was asking for the public’s assistance in identifying anyone who may have been traveling through the affected area.
“My heart is with the families and loved ones of every person unaccounted for after the flash flooding at the Grand Canyon,” Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs wrote Sunday on X.
Hobbs said the state Department of Emergency and Military Affairs and Coconino County Emergency Management were assisting the park service in its search.
Rich Rudow, 61, an experienced canyoneer who has been exploring the Grand Canyon for nearly 40 years, said an area known as “The Box” near Phantom Ranch would have been especially dangerous for hikers during the flash flood.
“The Box” is a roughly 2-mile section of trail along Bright Angel Canyon that is very narrow and would have been effectively inescapable when the flash flood came through because it is encapsulated by tall rock walls.
“There’s no way to climb up and get above floodwater,” Rudow said. “You’re trapped in that particular area.”
Park experts know that “this is the most dangerous area for this kind of event” and that it’s “an area you cannot escape,” Rudow added.
Satellite GPS devices that travelers can use for emergency alerts may not have been useful within “The Box” because high cliff walls can block signals and messages may have been delayed, he said.
Rudow was in the park during evacuations over the weekend and was there again Monday photographing incoming storms. He spoke to two workers on the pipeline construction project who told him their lodging and worksite materials were washed away.
“Everything that was being used in the construction project blew into the river, including the cabins they were staying in,” Rudow said.
Last year, there were 11 deaths in Grand Canyon National Park, nearly 850 medical service incidents and about 230 search-and-rescue efforts, according to a National Park Summary.
The flash flood that hit Phantom Ranch was particularly bad, Rudow said.
“I’ve seen hundreds of flash floods in Grand Canyon National Park — literally hundreds,” Rudow said. “This is uncharacteristically large, larger than anything I’ve seen personally.”
Searchers will continue to look for the missing person, Black, the incident commander, said Monday evening. Continued rain Monday that led to a further flood threat has hampered efforts, he said.
“We are absolutely holding out hope that that person is still alive,” Black said.
