Several hikers in Zion National Park in Utah were threatened by floodwaters on Friday, and one Arizona woman is still missing after she was swept away by the water.
Rangers and rescuers are searching for Jetal Agnihotri, 29, in the Virgin River area. Her brother told reporters that his sister is not a swimmer.
The missing woman was the only one in her group not found, after hiking in the park famous for its scenic red-rock cliffs and picturesque canyons. The rest of the group were stranded and had to wait for the water to recede, but were not seriously injured.
Flooding and intense rains can make the park dangerous for hiking, as the canyons get flooded with water, rocks and nature’s debris.
Due to the flooding, a major highway in Colorado, Interstate 70, was partly closed because of the danger of the waters and mudslides.
Several rivers in New Mexico have flooded and the state has seen its worst flood levels since the 1960’s. Tourists at Carlsbad Caverns National Park were stranded by floodwaters and evacuated on Saturday night.
Four hikers were rescued in Tucson, Arizona at Sabino Canyon and 41 students and staff got stranded in their school buses.
The unusual weather produced more than three inches of rain Saturday in the mountain area near Tucson. The rain occurred at the same time as a drought is hitting the US West that officials say is the worst drought in over 1,000 years and is caused by climate change.
Las Vegas is said to have the worst monsoon season in 10 years.
The US Drought Monitor issued a report on August 11 and said, “Most locales in Arizona, New Mexico, the California deserts, southern Nevada, and a few other scattered areas have measured at least 200 percent of normal (rainfall) over the past two months.”
Jennifer Armendariz, the emergency manager for Eddy County, said the public needs to know what to do when confronted with flash floods. Though water may not always look deep, it’s “not worth the risk of trying to cross,” she said, and pointed out that a man in the county had died last year in a tragic flood-related incident.