According to a spokesperson with the Coconino National Forest, the Redlands Dam in the Grand Canyon broke at about 6 a.m. Sunday.
According to Sherrie Collins with Coconino County Emergency Management Redlands Dam is owned by Babbitt Ranches. It is an earthen dam about 200 yards long, 100 yards wide, and 8-10 feet deep. It is a cattle water tank and does not hold water year round.
The dam did not totally fail, but rather culverts associated with the dam of Cataract Creek failed.
According to Michael Johnson, Engineering Manager with the Arizona Department of Water Resources, "To the best of our knowledge there was no dam failure. As we understand it, the structure that was breached was a roadway embankment on the ranch property. This is according to the president of Babbitt Ranches LLC; we have not seen this yet ourselves. When this breached it was probably responsible for more localized flooding on the ranch, but not the flash flooding that happened downstream, caused by the rain events. We are scheduling a site visit as soon as we can get there to confirm the non-jurisdictional status of the three structures.
Rain on Friday and Saturday night brought significant flooding to the area.
Officials said water from the dam quickly flowed downstream into Cataract Canyon and subsequently Supai Canyon.As much as 8 inches of rain since Friday caused trouble even before the dam was breached.
A private boating party of 16 people was stranded on a ledge where Havasu Creek and the Colorado River meet on Saturday night after flood waters carried their rafts away, said Grand Canyon National Park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge.
The boaters were found uninjured and were rescued from the Grand Canyon, whose floor is unreachable in many places except by helicopter.
Rescuers tried to find visitors staying at the Supai Campground and escort them to safety, Oltrogge said.
Evacuees were flown to a parking area 8 miles from Supai and 170 were taken to a Red Cross shelter in Peach Springs, about 60 miles southwest of Supai, said Oltrogge.
Air operations, which involved at least five helicopters, were suspended late Sunday due to darkness combined with the nature of the canyon's rough terrain.
Department of Puplic Safety officials closed down Route 66 in the Hualapai area.
There were no reports of damage to Supai village, which is on high ground. However, in other areas, hiking trails and footbridges were washed out. Some trees were uprooted as well.
Stay with ABC15.com for updates.
