Tourists airlifted out of the Grand Canyon after dam burst

Rescuers airlifted scores of people to the top of the canyon, and planned to search for more people if weather conditions allowed, Grand Canyon National Park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge said.

No injuries have been reported, but some individuals who were believed to be in the canyon at the time of the flooding are unaccounted for, according to a park service news release.

Rescue: A stranded camper is airlifted across the surging Colorado River

Cedar Hemmings and his small party were among the 170 or so people transported out of the gorge Sunday, after having returned from a Grand Canyon hike to where they had tied their rafts and finding that a flash flood had left them stranded.

"We were basically stuck up the canyon without our rafts," he said. "We had no supplies, no food and very little water, we lost everything."

Rescuers worked throughout Sunday to locate campers and Supai Village residents and safely transport them to the top of the canyon. About 400 Havasupai tribe members live in the village.

Dozens of people spent the night at an American Red Cross evacuation center set up in the Hualapai Tribal Gymnasium in Peach Springs, Arizona.

There were no confirmed reports of damage in Supai, which is on high ground, said Gerry Blair, a spokesman for the Coconino County Sheriff's Department. Many residents and campers chose to stay there, he said.

"We're not as concerned about it as we initially were," he said.

Still, a flash flood warning remained in effect.

Some hiking trails and footbridges were washed out after the dam breach about 45 miles from Supai, park officials said. Some trees were uprooted, the National Weather Service said.

The Redlands Earthen Dam broke early Sunday, park officials said. The dam breaching was only one factor in the flooding, Blair said. The dam isn't a "huge, significant" structure, he said.

Landmark: The Grand Canyon attracts thousands of visitors every year

The area got 3 to 6 inches rain Friday and Saturday and about 2 more inches on Sunday, said Daryl Onton, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Flagstaff, Arizona.

"That's all it took - just a few days of very heavy thunderstorms," he said.

Supai is about 75 miles west of the Grand Canyon Village, a popular tourist area on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Havasu Creek feeds the Colorado, which runs the length of the canyon.

In 2001, flooding near Supai swept a two-year-old boy and his parents to their deaths while they were hiking.