RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — A Raleigh couple is safely back home after being among more than 100 tourists rescued from flash flooding at the Grand Canyon.
Last Thursday, Shruti Chopra and her husband were enjoying what they thought would be a typical hike through the Grand Canyon, but heavy rain quickly caused treacherous flash flooding.
“We didn’t know if we’d make it back,” Chopra said. “We saw in front of our eyes the water levels rise. To give you context, there was no water there before, it was completely dry.”
When the rain first started, the Chopra’s and another group found shelter beneath a rock formation. That’s when she says someone rode by on horseback warning them to get to higher ground. “The cove that we were at would’ve completely been flooded,” she said.
The group continued moving higher and away from floodwaters. During that time, Chopra said she saw a large piece of rock on the opposite side of the canyon collapse into the raging water below. “At that time, we had no sense of time,” she said. “We were just trying to make sure that we were safe.”
When the rain finally stopped, the group embarked on what turned into an arduous, three-hour hike to make it a half mile into a Native American village. “When we started walking, in front of us there was no trail,” Chopra said. “There was nothing. There was just like a river and multiple little rivers and it was just like carnage.”
Several days after making it into the village, Chopra and several others were rescued by the Arizona National Guard.
“There were people who had to camp in the canyon. From how I see it, I think we were incredibly lucky. Things could’ve been a lot worse,” she said, adding that her group was the last in the canyon that was able to walk out into the village.
Over the weekend, authorities recovered the body of 33-year-old Chenoa Nickerson, a hiker from Arizona who was killed in the flooding. Chopra says her thoughts are with Nickerson’s family.