Grand Canyon flooding shuts down tourist lodging, threatens economy after last year's fire

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Deadly flooding at the Grand Canyon threatens to cause economic damage, with a washed-out pipeline severing the South Rim's water supply and shutting down lodging at the popular tourist vista for an indefinite period.

The national park remains open but tourists who planned to stay overnight — many traveling long distances for reservations from a year or more ago — have had to scramble to find rooms elsewhere.

The flooding that killed two people and left a third missing washed out an already decrepit pipeline spanning the canyon that supplies every shower, faucet and spigot at the South Rim.

Now, hundreds of rooms are no longer available due to insufficient water, thwarting plans for thousands of tourists staying at the canyon or headed that way in the days ahead.

Michelle Allen, of Olathe, Kansas, got word Sunday evening she'd need to check out the next morning after just one night into a five-night stay.

“We had to hurry up and make accommodations somewhere else,” Allen said. “Luckily we were able to do that.”

As of Tuesday, it's uncertain how long the area would be closed. Experts warn that the economic toll of such closures would affect not only northern Arizona but southern Nevada.

Many who visit the Grand Canyon also visit Las Vegas, said Christine Vogt, a consultant on sustainable tourism and outdoor recreation in the Western U.S.

“This will be catastrophic,” Vogt said, adding that the water shut-off could last weeks.

An extended lodging shutdown could also affect hundreds of service jobs in and around the national park and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in local revenue, said Megha Budruk, an Arizona State University associate professor who studies communities near public lands.

This is the latest economic blow to the region after a wildfire last summer destroyed a historic lodge at the Grand Canyon's less busy but lusher North Rim, putting all rooms and cabins on that side of the canyon out of commission for over a year, with no date yet for getting them replaced.

In 2024, Grand Canyon National Park drew almost $1 billion a year in spending by close to 5 million tourists visiting the otherwise remote northern Arizona region, according to the National Park Service.

That spending further supported almost 9,000 jobs, which in turn generated $400 million in labor income and $1.1 billion in economic output in nearby communities, according to the park service.

Besides the shuttered Phantom Ranch lodge and campground at the canyon bottom directly affected by the floods, closed South Rim accommodations included El Tovar Hotel, Bright Angel Lodge, Maswik Lodge and the Yavapai Lodge and Trailer Village, park officials said.

South Rim campgrounds remained open but without spigots. Campground bathroom faucets would remain operational but campfires were banned since less water would be available to fight a wildfire.

Restaurants and other food and beverage services at the South Rim remain open. But only so much water will be available from tanks that were supplied by the cross-canyon pipe.

In all, some 2,000 year-round residents and the South Rim's millions of annual tourists rely on the 12.5-mile (20-kilometer) pipe built down, across and up the sheer canyon walls in the 1960s.

Grit in the water has scoured the aluminum pipe, weakening it from the inside and causing dozens of failures in recent years. A more than $200 million repair project was well underway before the flooding that had damaged about 40% of the pipeline.

Conservation will be at least part of the plan to keep water flowing from tanks that still have weeks' worth of water in them. After that, how the tanks might be refilled is an open question.

In the meantime, the priorities will be reporting leaks, using reclaimed water for nondrinking uses, running dishwashers and washing machines only if they're full or in eco mode, Xanterra spokesperson Stephanie Plieness said by email.

“And asking guests and staff to be mindful of things like handwashing length and running water,” Plieness said. “Actions like these across the South Rim are what’s helping the available water reserves go as far as possible.”

Unaffected was Tusayan, a tourism hub just outside the park boundary 15 minutes from the South Rim.

“We’re just heartbroken about what has happened at Phantom Ranch,” Tusayan Mayor Clarinda Vail said, adding: “We are open. Full services in Tusayan.”

The community with 1,200 lodging rooms doesn't rely on the pipeline but uses well water. Besides hotels and camping, Tusayan hosts restaurants and canyon ground and aircraft tour businesses.

At Grand Canyon Camper Village in Tusayan, business had been “oddly slow” for this time of year but now general manager Joan Marquez is seeing a surge in business at showers and laundry rooms. Both are available for the general public as well as people staying at the campground.

South Rim lodging companies such as Delaware North, which runs the 350-room Yavapai Lodge, promised to get as many customers rebooked in Tusayan as they could.

But the community’s five main hotels were filling up quickly. Grand Canyon Plaza Hotel is usually the last in town to sell out but was seeing a surge in South Rim lodgers seeking rooms, front desk supervisor Steven Ayres said.

“We’re going to have more coming, I guarantee you,” Ayres said.

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Gruver reported from Fort Collins, Colorado, and Yu from Phoenix, Arizona. Associated Press visual journalist Ty O'Neil contributed to this report from the Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona.