rss@news.abolish.capital [bot]
Kalle Benallie
ICT
The community near Kirtland, New Mexico, has come together at a fire station to help fill sandbags to stave off flooding from the San Juan River in residential areas. Coaches and student-athletes from Kirtland Central High School have filled so many sand bags that they are now filling up trash bags.
Norm Begaye, president of Nenahnezad Chapter in Nenahnezad, New Mexico, said he saw how quickly people came together to help.
The Nenahnezad Chapter, one chapter of more than 100 on the Navajo Nation, is like a city hall and community center at the local level of the Navajo Nation government. The San Juan River serves as the border between Nenahnezad and Kirtland, which is 10 miles west of Farmington, New Mexico.
“I’m just here volunteer-based, our chapter and which now the bridge between to get across from the county to the reservation, we’re the only one opened up now,” Begaye, Diné, told ICT at 2:45 p.m. Mountain Time. The bridge closed an hour later, leaving people to drive two hours to go around. It’s one of the three bridges in the area.
Farmington is the biggest city in the Four Corners, the only place in the U.S. where four states — Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah — come together. Communities in the Four Corners region have had severe flooding, leading to water rescues — some from rooftops — and impassable roads, with some residents being told to evacuate low-lying areas of Colorado and New Mexico and others advised to shelter in place until water levels go down.
An unknown number of people were rescued overnight and continued to be rescued Friday by New Mexico Guard boats, helicopters and amphibious vehicles, San Juan County spokesman Devin Neeley said.
“We’re picking people off of roofs and pulling people out of houses that have 3 or 4 feet of water in them, and there’s more water coming,” Neeley said.
Some 600 households were told to evacuate in Farmington, where areas along the San Juan River were closed off, city spokesperson Gina Intoppa said.
“We are kind of all hands on deck,” Intoppa said.
Begaye said the Farmington bridge is closed, causing bad traffic. Both are homes to a large population of Navajo and Native residents. He said they were particularly concerned about two residents, one who is Navajo and is out of town, who live near the San Juan River.
“A lot of people are staying at their home and just trying to save as much as they can of items, but there’s some houses that are underwater already, and we hear that they’re gonna release more water from Navajo Dam tonight,” he said.
Kirtland Central High School student-athletes help bag sand for the community to stave off flooding near homes in Kirtland, New Mexico, on October 23, 2036. (Courtesy of Norm Begaye)
Bob Shuttleworth, head football coach at Kirtland Central High School, said he hopes to help save people’s livelihoods and having student-athletes help out was the best way to keep them safe.
“We had to tell them where to go, what makes sense, because we don’t want them down by the water, so here is the safest place for them, and they can still provide a service for our communities and help them out,” he said. “So this is the best place for them.”
He added how there’s expected to be two more storms over the weekend and there possibly won’t be reprieve until early next week.
“It’s getting pretty bad. I’ve never seen — I’ve been here since ‘94 — I’ve never seen that river get this high,” Shuttleworth said.
La Plata River, Animas River and San Juan River converge in Farmington. San Juan flows through the Navajo Nation.
One neighborhood between Kirtland and Farmington, Harper Valley, flooded and has been evacuated.
Harper Valley, a neighborhood between Kirtland and Farmington, New Mexico, is flooded and gets evacuated on October 23, 2026. (Courtesy of Norm Begaye)
Harper Valley, a neighborhood between Kirtland and Farmington, New Mexico, is flooded and gets evacuated on October 23, 2026. (Courtesy of Norm Begaye)
Kirtland Central High School’s Athletic Director, Isaiah Valdez, Navajo, said the community members from students-athletes, parents and more have been working together.
“It’s awful. Obviously, our community’s been affected, but our surrounding community, Farmington, Bloomfield, Aztec, Pagosa, Durango, you know, everyone’s being affected by this,” he said.
Valdez plans to be helping for the next few days.
“We’re gonna stick around and help out our community as needed and see what we can do to get back on track and get ready for next week,” he said.
Nenahnezad is one of the many Navajo communities being affected.
Shiprock Vice President Debra Yazzie and Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren issued an urgent evacuation alert on Facebook to families living along the San Juan River near Shiprock, Arizona.
She said there is expected flooding overnight through Saturday, October 24.
Their emergency evacuation shelter is the Diné Christian Center, accommodating up to 200 people with personnel on-site to assist those seeking shelter.
“A special thank you to Pastor Hall and the Diné Christian Center for their generosity in opening their doors to families in need. We also extend our sincere appreciation to all emergency personnel, first responders, and volunteers working tirelessly to protect our communities during these challenging conditions,” Yazzie said.
In Arizona
The White Mountain Apache reservation, which is West of Phoenix, is experiencing damage from the nearby storms.
Colton Shone, a reporter with AZ Family, visited the area and said there is a large sinkhole along areas near Cibecue Creek and over a dozen people stayed overnight at the Dishchii’bikoh Community School.
Cairo Clay, White Mountain Apache acting chairman, told Shone, Navajo, that other municipalities get a lot of help.
“We’re no different. We’re also Arizonans here,” he said.
Earlier in the week, tornadoes blew off roofs, knocked trees onto houses and downed power lines in Arizona. At least one person was injured.
While parts of the Southwest are rocky with little vegetation and are naturally prone to flash flooding, the recent rains have made flooding everywhere more likely, said Kate Abbott, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Grand Junction, Colorado.
Still more rain was forecast through the weekend.
“At this point we’re saturated and can’t take too much more without flooding,” Abbott said. “This is the third or fourth round of this kind of moisture we’ve seen in as many weeks.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The post Navajo, White Mountain Apache hit by flooding appeared first on ICT.
From ICT via This RSS Feed.