Extreme Conditions

Twenty hikers missing in Grand Canyon flood

(19 August 2008)

A handful of hikers are still missing after heavy rain caused flooding in a remote area of the Grand Canyon popular with tourists.

Around twenty hikers are unaccounted for after the flooding near the Havasupai tribe's settlement of Supai, 120km (75 miles) west of the Grand Canyon Village.

Authorities said they don't know whether the walkers had been swept downstream or had simply left the area.

Heavy rain breached an earth dam near the village in Arizona's Coconino county, causing the evacuation of more than 170 people.

No fatalities have been reported so far, despite around 400 tourists and residents being in the area at the time.