Woman's body found after flash flood near Grand Canyon

(Reuters) – The body of a woman missing for three days was found on Sunday after she was swept away by flash flooding near the Grand Canyon in Arizona, requiring the rescue of more than 100 people, authorities said.

The body of Chenoa Nickerson, 33, was discovered on a commercial cruise on the Colorado River, about 20 miles downstream from where she disappeared Thursday, the U.S. National Park Service said in a statement.

Nickerson, from Gilbert, a Phoenix suburb, was swept into Havasu Creek without a life jacket, the park service said.

Havasu Creek is a tributary of the Colorado River that joins the larger waterway just before entering Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

Air, ground and rescue vehicle searches were focused on the confluence of Havasu Creek and the Colorado River, the park service said.

The creek also flows through Havasupai tribal lands, where tribal leaders have asked Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs for flood relief, the governor's office said in a statement.

The state provided resources, including a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter to assist with the evacuation and a National Guard deployment, the statement said.

The Arizona National Guard said Saturday that the Blackhawk helped evacuate 104 tourists and tribal members from a canyon.

The Havasupai Tribal Council announced Saturday that it has closed its lands to tourists until further notice due to severe flooding.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta, editing by Frank McGurty and Christian Schmollinger)