Local

Havasu Falls to be closed for months

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 1:12 AM CDT

FLAGSTAFF (AP) - An American Indian village and popular Grand Canyon tourist spot hit by flooding won't reopen to visitors for at least six months, the tribe's Tourism Office said.

The Havasupai tribe initially had planned to allow visitors back to the area next month, but said Tuesday that more time is needed to repair the miles-long trail that leads visitors through Supai village and to campgrounds and towering blue-green waterfalls.

‘‘The trail is pretty damaged, so they are going to close it down for the remainder of the year,'' said Taschina Watahomigie, an employee in the tribe's Tourism Office.

Watahomigie said the office has been busy making calls to hundreds of people who had plans to visit the reservation in a canyon west of Grand Canyon National Park headquarters.

The travertine pool below Havasu Falls that gives the water its blue-green color is dried out, and Watahomigie said the flood damaged other waterfalls that lure thousands of tourists to the area each year.

Most tourists who were in the canyon when flood waters swept through Aug. 16 made their way to Supai and were ferried by helicopter to the canyon rim. The village itself rests well above the Colorado River tributary of Havasu Creek and is accessible only by helicopter, mule or foot.

Residents who had evacuated the flood-prone canyon returned last week.