Dozens of stranded Arizona hikers rescued

The Pima County Sheriff's Department says 40 to 50 adults and children were stranded Saturday throughout a Tucson-area canyon when waters rushed down mountainsides.

Deputy Tom Peine tells Tucson area media that the rescue effort involved teams on the ground and in a helicopter.

He says that the first group of hikers was led out of Bear Canyon in the Catalina Mountains just after 5 p.m. , and the last group about three hours later.

With some hikers, rescuers used a technique that involved roping together hikers and flotation devices to help get them through high water. Some of the hikers were flown out by helicopter.

Peine says the hikers might not have realized that rains could cause canyon flooding long after the down pour ends.