A few dramatic videos are trickling out on the socials.
As was reported last night, the Tribal Council has closed the Trail into Supai Village and asks that all tourists with reservations through Sunday to not come in. The Council is actively engaged in safely evacuating those tourists that were in Supai at the time of the flooding. We kindly ask for your patience as we see to the health and safety of the tourists and the Tribal members.
More information will be posted as soon as possible.
As a reminder, this is the official tourism page of the Havasupai Tribe; information shared on other Facebook pages and groups is not from official sources. - Havasupai Tribe Tourism
I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies.
@chumley
In Jan of 23’ the tribe received $933,000 in federal relief to cover the damages and lost revenue from the 22’ flood. The recent money was suppose to go towards technical assistance to fund a flood warning system and siren, as well as rebuilding the recreational area, new bridges, etc.
I wonder if the warning siren and flood detection system was operational for this flood? I wonder how much of that money was even able to be spent before this flood? A million bucks is nothing in the greater scheme of things, but I wonder if a similar payout will be in store for this flood and I wonder at what point does it become unnecessary to deem these floods disasters in a canyon that geologically speaking is meant to flood?
Usually, funds are appropriated but they're not "received" until needed (discovery/impact analysis/contractor/etc have been approved) and that process is a long one, generally speaking. There are different categories of funds that can bypass that sometimes and I'm not familiar with which these were but I doubt anything had actually been completed in that timeline based on government contracts I've worked in the past. I'm not familiar with tribal matters but I have to imagine that's an extra layer of "stuff" and approvals as well?
I think funding infra in the flooded areas such as bridges may be a waste but some sort of alert system seems warranted and worth the money, at least, on the surface. This site attracts tons of people who aren't really familiar with the fact that rain miles and miles away can cause craziness with where you are so seems like a decent public service. Assumption being that there is enough data/sensors/notice to give a positive hit and not a crap ton of false positives.
They did at least build a new bridge where a previous one had been destroyed. Based on my understanding of government-funded infrastructure budgets and projects, this appears to have cost approximately $932,999.99 to build.
The good news is that the structure looks to have survived the flood. I'm sure there will need to be some serious inspection of the stability of the footings.
Attachments
New bridge opened June 2024
Still sorta there after flood
I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies.
@chumley There were a very large number of those rock gabions (rocks in wire cages) all over post-flood, to direct/control erosion along the trails, in addition to the gabions that bridge was built on. (Many of the gabions and earth stabilization efforts were above Havasupai falls closer to the town.) I would hazard a guess that this million dollars you identify was for all the improvements together, and not just that one bridge. But I would agree with you that this bridge was probably on the more expensive side of the list of post-flood costs.
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Hike Arizona it is full of sharp, pointy, shin-stabbing, skin-shredding plants!
Hike Arizona it is full of striking, biting, stabbing, venomous wildlife!
I was nearby, on a river trip (motor rig, 8 day trip), when this occurred. Just took out yesterday. On Thursday, 8/22 we were camped across from the South Bass Trail, at the Parkins Inscription camp, about Mile 108.5. It had rained off and on all day, but had stopped by the time we got to camp. We set up our tents, some in lower lying areas on the small dune. Heavy rain started again in the evening, necessitating quick action from everyone, to move tents which were getting flooded.
However, my understanding is that the cell that hit Havasu was earlier in the day. We were some miles away from that at the time. During heavy rain that afternoon we ran Hermit (M. 95.5) and Crystal (M.99) rapids. Havasu Creek mouth is at Mile 157, quite a ways downstream from those rapids.
The next day we ran down to Stone Creek camp at Mile 132. We saw a lot of evidence that a huge storm had come through, causing serious beach erosion and debris flows from several side canyons, including Galloway, which has altered the top part of Deubendorff rapid. We heard that Havasu had flashed to 20,000 cfs, bigger than the 18K the Colorado was running. Half of the big beach at Stone was washed away, and it was cut by big gullies.
Saturday night we were camped at National Canyon, Mile 167, so now we were below the mouth of Havasu Creek. We had stopped by there but saw that it was very muddy. The next morning as we were getting ready to leave, the rescue helicopter flew by, going downriver. Within less than half an hour, it came back up, with a bundle hanging from it. I now surmise it was the body of the Glendale woman, who was found several miles downstream from where we were.
As we proceeded down to the Diamond Creek take-out, there was less evidence of huge beach erosion. So, that big storm was somewhat localized.
So, I was sort of there.
Last edited by azbackpackr on Aug 31 2024 3:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
There is a point of no return unremarked at the time in most lives. Graham Greene The Comedians
A clean house is a sign of a misspent life.
big_load wrote:I'm glad everything turned out well on your trip.
Thanks! I may have one more trip, next spring, before I retire from bus driving for this company. Motor trips are the "easy" ones, but it still beats me up pretty good. It was very fun, though.
There is a point of no return unremarked at the time in most lives. Graham Greene The Comedians
A clean house is a sign of a misspent life.
Extensive video from some backpackers that were down there when it the flood happened. Pretty amazing perspectives and footage. [ youtube video ]
Lifeis not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty & well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming,"Wow What a Ride!"
outdoor_lover wrote: ↑Sep 04 2024 2:51 pm
Extensive video from some backpackers that were down there when it the flood happened. Pretty amazing perspectives and footage. [ youtube video ]
I wonder how experienced they were and how much they knew about previous Havasupai floods. When they showed high water while they were still in the tent (before the mandatory evacuation), it was already at level that would have me seriously considering hiking all the way out. The waterfalls coming over the rim would have sealed the deal. If trail conditions permitted and I had the ability to proceed, I wouldn't have bothered trying to get a helicopter ride. I'm not criticizing their decisions, but that would be my personal choice based on history there and having been affected by floods and fires on previous backpacking trips.
@big_load I think part of their problem was, is that they didn't have all of their gear until the just before their helicopter flight. I think a lot of their food and stuff was coming in by mule and the mules didn't get in before the flood. Normally, if they hadn't used the mules, their pack would have been heavier on the hike in and lighter on the hike out. But with them getting some of their gear at the last minute, they would have had to haul that back out I imagine. I could be wrong. That is still a long hike up and out at the end of the days like what they experienced. And it's possible, that with a party of 12, there may have been a few that would have hiked out, but maybe they just didn't want to split up like that, especially if they carpooled.
Lifeis not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty & well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming,"Wow What a Ride!"
outdoor_lover wrote: ↑Sep 04 2024 5:14 pm
@big_load I think part of their problem was, is that they didn't have all of their gear until the just before their helicopter flight. I think a lot of their food and stuff was coming in by mule and the mules didn't get in before the flood. Normally, if they hadn't used the mules, their pack would have been heavier on the hike in and lighter on the hike out. But with them getting some of their gear at the last minute, they would have had to haul that back out I imagine. I could be wrong. That is still a long hike up and out at the end of the days like what they experienced. And it's possible, that with a party of 12, there may have been a few that would have hiked out, but maybe they just didn't want to split up like that, especially if they carpooled.
If Mrs. big_load were there, she would have said "forget the gear, we're leaving".
@big_load
By the time there was any sign of a flood, it was already way too late to hike out. The timing for is flood seems pretty similar to the flood I witnessed there back in 2014 or so (although this one looks like it got far worse than that one, which still resulted in an evacuation). There was maybe 15-20 minutes from the first signs of turbulence to when the river started quickly rising. The point in the video where you said you would've been out of there was just 13 minutes prior to the evacuation notice. Even if you had decided at the first sign of trouble to hike out, you wouldn't have even made it to Supai, and crossing the creek to get to Hualapai Canyon would've been out of the question. The only thing to do is to find high ground as fast as possible and wait it out, instead of trying to go up or down canyon.
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