Stories of the Night of the Flood

Compiled by Josh Kaggie

Havasu Falls, Preflood, Tyler D'Hulst

Havasu Falls, Day after the Flood, Tyler D'Hulst

Saturday Day

“It was a beautiful and pristine weekend on the Havasupai reservation in Grand Canyon. Saturday I wanted to hike 7-8 miles down to the Colorado River from the campground but couldn’t get anyone in our group to accompany me that far so I settled for Beaver falls about three miles down from Mooney Falls. My first impression of the Waterfalls in Havasupai was the sheer beauty of the turquoise green waters going through the canyon and the travertine formations that sculpted each spectacular waterfall. It was utterly amazing.” - Nathan Cowlishaw

“We hiked to Beaver Falls and absolutely enjoyed it. We played in all of the travertines some of which were really deep. We jumped off of big rocks into the falls and it'd push us out. We spent a good amount of time there. We got back to our camp. The squirrels had eaten pretty much all of my friends' food. Some of the food was strewn up against the mountain walls. It's amazing that they would chew through so much plastic. They sampled pretty much everything we had that was left out.” - Josh Kaggie

The First Warnings

5 PM, Saturday Afternoon

“Some of our group noticed some debris falling off of Mooney Falls.” - Josh Kaggie

“Two Natives came through with walkie-talkies telling us that there was a flood expected to come down the river that evening and to be alert. We asked the man if we were ok where we were and he said we were fine and just be aware.” - Tawnya Gray

5:30 PM, Saturday Afternoon

Mooney Falls, Preflood, Josh Kaggie

“Right as we were ready for dinner and eating the food we had left a guy and a girl came running through the camp yelling, 'Flash Flood! Flash Flood! Flash Flood!' Pretty soon the place where there was a cave had a bunch of people on it. Everyone without their gear. Pretty much no one knew how bad a flash flood would be. My group actually stayed on the ground. We didn't move. We packed up though. We put away our tents and tarps and got everything ready to go. But a flood never came. Nothing happened. It was a boy who cries wolf scenario but it's better safe then sorry. A different ranger came through and explained that they might see it rise 6 feet. It was about 5:30 pm at this time, Saturday afternoon.” - Josh Kaggie

6 PM, Saturday Afternoon

“[We started hiking out of the canyon.] It started to rain pretty hard. We pulled out our tarp and hid under a tree next to the trail and covered ourselves. The rain calmed down soon enough, but we kept sitting there. The ranger caught up and made us move along with them. It was their first night as rangers. “ - Josh Kaggie

(Top) Mooney Falls, (Bottom) Havasu River, Next to Campgrounds, Tyler D'Hulst

“The sky remained cloudy on and off the rest of the afternoon but not much rain fell. About 6:00 pm a couple of native Havasupai came through camp letting all the campers know that a flash flood warning had been issued for the area and was in affect until 10:00 pm that night. Even though we were informed of the flood and cautioned to be prepared it was done in a casual manner and felt as if it were more a "heads up" type warning. Some of the campers asked Havasupai and officer what to expect and, from their account, they were informed the river would only rise about two to three feet, if it did at all.” - Tyler D'Hulst

6:30 PM, Saturday Afternoon

“Bureau of Indian Affairs officers came through on a 4-wheeler and said that there was definitely a flood coming. After an hour of watching Havasu Falls, nothing happened. So we figured that was the extent of it and headed back to camp. The water level had risen maybe 6 inches and was still contained in the river banks. We had dinner and played cards with our neighbors.” - Tawnya Gray

Havasu River, Post flood warning, Tyler D'Hulst

“As we were hiking up from Mooney Falls and were told to evacuate the area around Mooney because there was a flash flood warning in effect until ten o’clock. Joe and Robert headed back to camp and I hung around Mooney to shoot a few more images as the waterfall began turning reddish brown. In camp everything was calm that night and we enjoyed an evening with only mild rain.” - Nathan Cowlishaw

The First Flood

8:30 PM, Dusk, Saturday Evening

“We had passed the last fence of the village and were on our way up a hill. I wasn't paying much attention until my other friends stopped. About a foot of water was coming down the path. We had to hurry down the path too, because one side was downhill, the other side was blocked by trees. After 20 yards, we were able to cut right and go up hill.

“We found a spot a bit further up the road. It was nice and flat. It had a ton of horse chips that we kicked out of the way. We decided to make camp there and wait for the morning. We hung our packs, a lamp, and our garbage in the trees. We pulled out a tarp and decided to enjoy the night. We made pretty much the remainder of our food - hot cocoa and Mountain House apple crisp.
“Some other hikers came by, saw the flood and talked with us for a moment. They made camp a little bit further uphill, but only for a few moments. They had someone scout ahead and since the bridge was still there and only slightly flooded, they decided to go on ahead. We figured we could wait for morning when the path had dried and the flooding had stopped.

We made camp for the night.” - Josh Kaggie

The Second, Much Deeper Flood

Midnight, Saturday Night

“ In the middle of the night, I heard the river raging. I got up and saw a wall of water headed toward us." - Bill Rounds

"We were asleep for probably an hour. It was 11:30 Saturday night. I heard some campers walk by on the road. They got down to where the water was and turned around. One of them walked up to us and shined her light in our faces and went, 'No it's not them.' Even with the light in my eyes, I pretended to be asleep because I really just didn't want to move. She then started walking back and said, "You guys do know it's flooded down here, right?" My friend quickly replied, 'Yeah, that's we are camped right here.' We laid there for 30 seconds before Eric said, 'That's a lot louder then it was before.'
“So Bill got up. Right as he ran over to where the path was to check it out, a huge flood of a couple feet came gushing up the trail. We were surrounded on all sides. I walked over there with my socks on. I had left them on so I didn't have to remove moleskin. Our previous camp spot was flooded within minutes of us getting up.” - Josh Kaggie

“Around midnight early Sunday, I woke up to people screaming and a man shaking my tent alerting me of the massive flood. As I emerged from my tent I saw the ravine next to the tent filling with a raging torrent. The evening before it was bone dry. Boulders rolled through it with ease being pushed along with sticks and driftwood. On the other side was Havasu creek. It was completely overwhelmed looking more like a muddy Colorado River. All kinds of debris went rushing by including an outhouse, tents, water toys, cottonwood trees and boulders. The floodwaters completely surrounded the high ground that stranded our group of nineteen people. There were others; a scout troop with six boys and one other couple with their friend. It became a long night as we all waited for morning to swing around. The water kept rising until 4 A.M. and then slowed down. We made a camp fire and everyone huddled around waiting for morning.“ - Nathan Cowlishaw

“Shortly after midnight, I awoke to the sound of raging water outside my tent. I opened the flap and saw John & Aaryn working frantically to get John’s hammock down from the trees and they were standing in calf-deep water. John lost his keen sandals since they had been under his hammock and the tent was washed up against a tree but we were able to wade over and grab it.” - Tawnya Gray

“I was awakened by someone shaking my tent and saying "there's been another flood, get up." I slowly dressed and got out of the tent to check things out. After striking the campsite we wandered down the camp and talked with a few of the other campers. What we saw completely took us by surprise. We came to a point in the camp where the river had overflowed its banks and had washed away peoples tents, gear, and camps. This was about 300-350 feet downstream from our camp.

“At the time the river started to rise even higher, after we had left, these people had to scramble up trees and stand on top of picnic tables and hang on to trees for their lives. They stuck in these trees for over five hours, half in the water and half in the tree. They had lost their shoes and some of the clothes they were wearing. The story from one of them was that a couple of tribe members came to where they were at and helped them crossed. One was told to jump from her position in the tree and extend her arm so that the Indian could catch her. With hesitation she trusted him and leaped into the water (it's speed had increased with the additional rise and was now estimated to be flowing around 35-40 mph) She says that she jumped in and went completely under expect for her right hand, which had been caught by the native there to help her. He pulled her to shore and continued to help others. Others crossed in similar ways.

“Another young man caught in a tree had to actually move to another one because the debris hitting his caused it to start to break. He said that massive trunks would just slam into his tree and knock it around. He also stated that at various times he saw chuck of rock and mud the size of cars just being swept away through the river.” - Tyler D'Hulst

1 AM, Sunday Morning

“The water level finally topped out and maintained its level for over an hour. A group had been separated. Two of them were on our side of the river and the other three were on other side of river. We could hear them shouting to each other but nothing could be done to get to them. We also saw head lamps on the rocks across the wash from us – more people trapped but again, we couldn’t help them.” - Tawnya Gray

“One of the high grounds just down from that was turned into an island with the river raging on both sides of it. You could see people's headlights and flashlights moving around on that island as they scrambled to pack everything up and try to keep it dry. They even built a little campfire on that island for light and warm (with the rising river and increased speed of it, it brought a little chill through the camp). Everyone downstream from that spot and those who had camped on the other side of the river to begin with were immediately cut off from the rest of us, and the way out.

“We hiked up to Havasu falls to see if we could see anything in the dark and you could just hear the increase in power that the water was falling. Looking over a ledge you could also see the river had risen and now spanned the entire length from the canyon wall to that ledge wall.

“We learned of a group of five young adults who had crossed the river from their campsite, just five minutes before the flood, so that they could fill up their water bottles for the night from the spring. When the surge came through it took everything they had. Tents, backpack, clothes, wallets, car keys, cameras, everything was swept downstream.” - Tyler D'Hulst

“We made camp this time on a ledge. It was the flattest cleanest spot we could fine. We were very concerned for our two friends who went on ahead.” - Josh Kaggie

2:15 AM, Sunday Morning

“We figured that we should get some sleep so we found some picnic tables to sleep on. John found an abandoned tent with an inflatable mattress and feather pillows in it so we crawled it. We were SO comfortable…for 10 minutes. Then Benny showed up. Benny was a “professional tour guide who has 20 years of experience in these types of matters” and had appointed himself the leader of the flood victims.” - Tawnya Gray

3:30 AM, Sunday Morning

“About 3:00 am a group of people came by led by a guy named Benny [a private tourguide] and said that they were Rescue One. They informed us that everything seemed to be stable at the time. Unfortunately we had to leave people trapped on the other side. There was nothing we could do to help them. The waters had risen too high and were flowing to fast for anything to be done.

“We moved up to the horse area and then immediately told that we needed to move to even higher ground because the river was still rising. Historically this was the highest ground nearby and has never flooded, that's why the cemetery set there.“ - Tyler D'Hulst

“We were all moved completely out of the campgrounds and up above Havasu Falls to the cemetery. That was the first time we saw a native with a radio that seemed to have any real information at all. At first, we were told it was sacred ground and that we couldn’t go in but had to sleep on the trail in front of it. Suddenly, within minutes, we were ordered into the cemetery because another, larger surge of water was coming. We were told we’d be safe there since it had never flooded. We all spread out and tried to get comfortable but there were over 200 of us in a little clearing in a cemetery, in the dark, in a flood…it wasn’t easy to relax!”

“Aaryn said he could see the trees coming down the river and snapping as they were broken like toothpicks on boulders. John said he estimated that Havasu Falls was at least 10 feet lower than what it used to be because of all the erosion the debris and water were causing.” - Tawnya Gray

4 AM, Sunday Morning

Campgrounds, Day after Dam Broke, Nathan Cowlishaw

“So here we are at the cemetery. Benny circles everyone around him and tries to answer the questions that were being asked. Just listening to the questions and hearing the voices with which they were asked you could sense the fear in some of the people. some of the people were over from Europe of back east and have never experienced this type of thing before, nor grew up knowing what to do in these type of situations. That, coupled with the fear of not being able to see the river at that time and not knowing if it would continue to rise, helped to escalate the tension and fear felt by many of the campers.

“Dad and I were sitting next to the group of five that had been separated from their friends and gear. They had nothing on but swim trunks, short sleeve shirts, and shoes; nothing else. I brought our bags over to them and we gave them our sleeping bags, air pads, a hoodie, two jackets, couple pairs of pants, and some dry clothes so they could at least stay warm.

“There was a constant rumble from the river that sounded like thunder off the canyon walls and you could feel the vibration through the ground. We were probably a good 75 feet away.” - Tyler D'Hulst

5 AM, Dawn, Sunday Morning

“At this time we could see lights from the canyon walls and hilltops nearby. The main trail that campers hike in by was inundated and the two foot bridges that cross the river were blown away by this massive river but there are a couple of trails along the cliffs that the locals used. From there the locals had come down to check out what was going on and to help where needed. They made it all the way to the campground and started helping some people cross the river.

“The water now was at the cemetery edges. We formed a support line up the [canyon] wall to help those campers who would struggle climbing up.

“You could make out the rapids and the level of the river in the dim light. It looked like it had grown five or six times it's original width and height.” - Tyler D'Hulst

“Once we were on the cliff and truly out of the floods path, we could view what had happened. The hiking path that ran along the cemetery was washed away, the two foot bridges crossing the stream were washed away and the “stream” was now a 30 foot wide raging river.” - Tawnya Gray

9 AM, Sunday Morning

“The path out of the canyon was still flooded and the bridge was out. So we walked back to the village in the mud. There was a paper sign on many trees that said, 'Dam breech at 8:85 AM. Tourists will be evacuated. Villagers stay posted.' We were poorly informed of anything in the city. The first helicopter came at close to 9 am. That was the AZ emergency helicopter. I think I may have seen another helicopter.” - Josh Kaggie

Path out of the canyon, 5 hours afters after the flood had hit, Josh Kaggie

“There was a lot of confusion, panic, and uncertainty even in the morning when rescuers hadn’t arrived. It wasn’t until around 9 A.M. that four Havasupai men came to our rescue. By this time we saw a couple of private helicopters arriving on the scene. One of them dropped an old rope on our island. The Havasupai men helped us construct a line across the floodwater about 40 feet long but no-one wanted to cross because of the strong flood current. The first to traverse the line was a guy named Jerry and he barely made it. The rest of us would follow after being warned that another wave of flood water was just minutes away from slamming us. One of the Havasupai men said we had three choices; we could cross the line, climb a tree, or drown in the flood! My buddies ran up some trees but I couldn’t get into a tree and that’s when my survival instinct kicked in. I ran towards the ropes with a pack on. The only thing I was carrying was my flute, my camera, a blanket my mother made me when I was a child, and my 150 dollar cowboy boots. Everything else was lost to the flood. I zipped across the rope line. It was easier than I had expected though I did slip but was able to pull myself to safety with the help and encouragement of the Havasupai men. Two more people had crossed before me and everyone else followed across the line except Joe and Robert - my friends from Parowan, Utah. They were still up in trees on the island!
“The water was beginning to rise and that’s when I began to snap a little. I felt guilty for crossing the line and having my friends still on the other side. It was tear-jerking! It was hard dealing with the uncertainty as to whether they could make it out or not and I couldn’t bear the thought of them dying in the the flood. The others in our group were from Las Vegas and when they saw me, they began shouting in unison for Robert and Joe to come across the line. Not long afterwards they arrived and both crossed to safety. The scouts were still on the island as well but there was an old Havasupai man that was able to find an access route to the island on foot and they were able to bring the scouts across quickly and safely before the next surge of floodwater hit. Everyone on the island made it out alive. I was so overjoyed that my friends made it across safely. We all made it higher ground. We followed the four Havasupai up some steep inclines and a hidden trail that lead back to the village two miles away. By the time we arrived in the village there was FEMA warnings posted on the trees letting everybody know that an earthen dam up the river had failed. We were airlifted in Blackhawk helicopters out of the Canyon.“ - Nathan Cowlishaw

Blackhawk Landing, Monday Morning, Josh Kaggie

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