Runoff fuels flooding in Western Agency

While the higher elevations of the Western Navajo Agency were reporting 2 to 3 feet of snow, stranding countless families, Tuba City was coping with another problem.

The snow changed to rain over the weekend, melting the snowpack and sending streams of runoff from the surrounding mesas into the low-lying areas.

Chapter Executive Manager Priscilla Littlefoot said Wednesday "three and counting" families had to evacuate their homes when the water level rose to about 2 feet.

"They lost everything," she said.

Fortunately, Chapter Vice President Robert Yazzie works for Greyhills Academy High School and was able to negotiate an agreement with Greyhills Inn - the dormitory - to temporarily house the families, along with another family whose house burned to the ground during the storms.

Meanwhile, a command center was set up at the chapter house to distribute food, hay and water from Window Rock to 10 surrounding chapters.

Chapter President Max Goldtooth wouldn't even venture a guess on the number of Western Agency families who are still stranded by snow and mud.

"Countless," he said. "Too many to count."

Goldtooth said two squadrons of Navajo Nation Police were doing their best to get to the isolated areas, going in pairs so that if one police unit got stuck, the other could pull it out.

Wednesday morning he was on his way to meet Coconino County Supervisor Lena Fowler and law enforcement personnel to survey the situation from a helicopter supplied by the Arizona National Guard.

"We're working closely with the state, the county and Navajo Nation Emergency Operations Center to make sure we get help out to everyone who needs it," Goldtooth said. "It's ongoing."

By Wednesday most of the roads in Tuba City itself were "muddy but passable," according to Littlefoot, but higher-elevation chapters like Bodaway-Gap, LeChee, K'ai'bii'tó, Cameron, Ts'ah bii Kin, and Navajo Mountain were reporting little progress in clearing the roads.

In Shonto, schools remained closed Wednesday as security personnel cordoned off the area around the elementary school gym, which had collapsed.

On the Hopi Reservation, several buildings with traditional flat roofs also caved in under the weight of 2 feet of snow, and one exposure fatality was reported. A resident reported a helicopter had dropped hay for stranded livestock.

"Right now we're bracing for the storm that's coming," Littlefoot said. "I hear it's not going to be as bad. That's what we're hoping, anyway."

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