Warren Youngman, assistant special agent in charge with the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, said water breached the Redlands Dam south of the village after heavy rains Sunday, and everyone was ordered to evacuate the canyon for safety reasons.
There is no estimated time when the evacuation will be complete. Evacuees are being taken to a Red Cross shelter in Peach Springs.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/08/17/20080817supai0817online.html
We rafted the canyon about 12 yrs ago. We hiked up the side canyon carved by the Havasu River, some going all the way to the falls. It was truly beautiful.
If the people whose rafts washed away were on the rocks just West of the Havasu, they had good high rocks to wait on. The River has cut a fairly deep gorge right at the conflence of the Colorado.