A solo hiker at the Grand Canyon narrowly escaped a catastrophic flash flood that swept through the canyon floor on Saturday, killing two men and leaving a third missing. Wieke De Boer, 47, of Tucson, Arizona, had studied a flash-flood evacuation flyer before descending into the canyon, a decision that helped her survive when she was later given just five minutes to grab her belongings and flee to higher ground as walls of water, mud and debris tore through the area. The disaster highlights the growing danger posed by the canyon's fire-scarred terrain during monsoon season.

The floods, described as the worst in 60 years, were worsened by last year's Dragon Bravo Fire, which stripped vegetation and left slopes prone to mudslides. The flooding claimed the lives of chiropractor John Giusti and martial artist Brent Rosenkranz, 42, while a third member of their group, Timothy Smith, 53, remained unaccounted for as of Wednesday. De Boer, a University of Arizona maths instructor camping at the hard-hit Bright Angel Creek campground, had been running the North Kaibab Trail when a severe storm with lightning and hail forced her to turn back, narrowly avoiding a newly formed waterfall before reaching safety.