Search continues for missing Grand Canyon climber – Metro Puerto Rico

Search and rescue teams are still looking for an Arizona woman who was swept into a creek during flash flooding in Grand Canyon National Park nearly two days after her sister reported on social media Saturday.

Chenoa Nickerson of Gilbert, Arizona, was on Havasu Creek, about 0.5 mile (800 meters) from the mouth of the Colorado River, when flash flooding occurred Thursday afternoon.

The National Park Service reported that the 33-year-old woman had spent the night at a campsite near the town of Supai, which is located on the Havasupai Reservation, deep in the canyon next to the Grand Canyon.

The flooding trapped several hikers in the area, which is located above and below Beaver Falls, whose turquoise blue attracts tourists from around the world to the Havasupai tribe’s reservation. The area is prone to flooding, which causes its iconic waterfall to turn a chocolate brown.

Other hikers managed to reach the village, about 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) from the camp, where they waited for helicopters. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs activated the state’s National Guard, including Black Hawk helicopters, to help evacuate hikers from the village.

Tamara Morales, the sister of the missing hiker, highlighted the National Guard deployment and praised the National Park Service rescue team for “traversing extremely dangerous terrain with extremely limited communications while continuing to search everywhere.”

“We are so grateful and fully realize they are doing the best they can right now,” Morales said in a Facebook post.

The Havasupai Tribe’s reservation is one of the most remote in the continental U.S. and can only be reached by foot, mule or helicopter. After the flooding, the tribal council closed the steep, winding trail leading to the reservation and asked visitors with passes before Sunday not to come.

Rochelle Tilousi, a member of the Havasupai tribe in the Grand Canyon area, said helicopter evacuations began after the bridge was washed out and rescue workers were deployed amid a series of towering waterfalls.