A 29-year-old Grand Canyon rafter was killed and several other areas in Arizona were hit with severe damage after powerful monsoons slammed the state this week.

The Grand Canyon National Parkconfirmed the fatality in a press release, identifying the victim as Rebecca Copeland of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Park officials said Copeland and another person were reported missing on Wednesday after flash flooding hit Tatahatso Camp near River Mile 38 on the Colorado River.

The storms have inundated areas across Arizona, which has been in a lengthy drought for quite some time and in desperate need of rainfall, according toCNN.

Grand Canyon spokeswoman Joelle Baird told theAssociated Pressthat the flooding victims were planning to stay overnight at the camp with a group of 30 passengers and two commercial rafts.

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Search teams set out Wednesday to find the missing individuals, while officials also treated several others injured at the scene. A total of five people were airlifted to Flagstaff Medical Center and are now in stable condition, according to the press release.

The fatality was just one of many results from the storm that swept through Arizona this week.

In Tucson, Golder Ranch Fire District said their firefighters helped homeowners afterlightning struck their house, andrescued a man and his two daughtersfrom the roof of their vehicle after it was swept away in “fast moving water.”

“So thankful that no one was hurt and everyone went home safe,” the fire department wrote on Facebook alongside dramatic footage of the rescue.

In Flagstaff, many streets were flooded and covered in mud and debris, according toAzFamily.com. One street had so much water that a gold Toyota Prius floated down the street, the outlet reported.

“This was pretty surreal for us,” Taylor Landy, who lives in the neighborhood, told the outlet of the flash flooding.

Landy said the flooding happened within 30 seconds and went from “a small flooded street to a raging river outside of her house,” according to AzFamily.com.

“I never thought our street would have rushing water that would carry a car,” Landy explained, adding that mailboxes and trash cans were also taken down the street in the flood. “In a better choice of words, it was gnarly.”

Though the rainfall is needed in Arizona, especially amid the drought and recent heat wave, experts say this type of flooding may be dangerous for the area, according toCNN.

“This year, however, we have a very real concern that is different from past years,” Marvin Percha, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Phoenix, told CNN. “Due to all the fires that have caused burn scars and a loss of vegetation, we have a chance for even greater runoff and even more intense localized flash flooding.”

“Wildland fires remove vegetation and harden the soil, preventing water from infiltrating the ground. Heavy rain over burn scars can lead to flash floods and debris flows,” added acting Arizona state climatologist Erinanne Saffell to the outlet.

Flash floods are common in the desert southwest, including Northern Arizona, according to a National Park Service press release.

“This is because the arid, sparsely vegetated environments found in these areas have little capacity to absorb rainfall. The resulting runoff moves rapidly through the narrow canyons and steep terrain found throughout the region,” the release said. “In many areas, even small storms can turn normally dry streambeds into raging torrents of water in a matter of minutes.”

The release warned people to be alert for the possibility of flash flooding any time rain is in the forecast.

source: people.com