GRAND CANYON —
Search and rescue teams are expected to once again comb through the Grand Canyon's South Rim, searching for a missing hiker who may have been swept away by flood waters on Saturday.
53-year-old Timothy Allen Smith was on a hiking trip with his two friends - Dr. John Giusti and Brent Rosenkranz who sadly were found dead.
The three men had traveled from Texas to hike and camp at the Grand Canyon together, not thinking a trip among close friends would turn tragic.
Wednesday, crews are expected to be back out searching, using drones, Bluetooth tracking devices, even a Border Patrol K-9 search team to try and find Allen - and anyone else who could still be missing, although right now, National Park Service officials are confirming just one person unaccounted for.
On Saturday, four rounds of heavy rain fell in places like Phantom Ranch in rapid succession, resulting in flash flooding - sending waves of water, debris, and dirty rushing towards campers.
NPS officials say 82 people had to be rescued. The Arizona Department of Public Safety tells ABC15 they performed 13 helicopter rescues operations, hoisting 61 people to safety on Saturday and Sunday.
Questions remain about what - if anything - could have been sooner to try and evacuate campers.
On Monday, NPS officials mentioned in a news conference that some of the water gauges went "offline" as a result of the flooding.
"We're not sure why," said Brian Drapeaux, who is deputy superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park"...or whether it was debris flow that knocked them out of service or whether it was some other factor that put them offline," explained Brian.
ABC15's Nick Ciletti followed up with officials at the U.S. Geological Survey, which said in total, there were four "stream gauges" installed at the South Rim. The USGS says two of the four gauges were washed away by the floodwaters but were still able to collect and send data to NPS officials until 2:30PM and 2:45PM Saturday when the two went offline. The USGS says the two remaining gauges were still able to send data and updates.
Jamie Macy with the USGS says teams are now working with NPS officials to regain access to the flood zone to begin replacing the missing gauges.
"At USGS, flooding is our business," explains Macy. "That is what we do. We need to get back in there to assess the flooding, the magnitude itself, and survey the high-water marks to estimate how much water was moving through Bright Angel Creek and also to assess the damage to our gauges and then re-install those gauges as quickly as possible."
Macy explains the gauges are solar and battery-powered and are able to collect and send data to rangers every hour with the goal of monitoring both flooding and drought.
