As San Juan River flooded, Gad’íí’áhí man moved livestock, helped neighbors
Special to the Times | Donovan Quintero
Michael Roy stands beside his pickup as he fills a 280-gallon water tank at Gad’íí’áhí/Tókǫ’í Chapter Saturday afternoon, Oct. 24. Roy hauls water for horses and cattle moved to higher ground after flooding along the San Juan River.
GAD’ÍÍ’ÁHÍ, N.M.
Michael Roy has lived beside the San Juan River since 1975. He knows the sound of ice grinding downstream in winter, but early Saturday, Oct. 24, the river sounded different.
Special to the Times | Donovan Quintero
Michael Roy positions a PVC pipe to fill a water trough for horses at
Gad’íí’áhí/Tókǫ’í Chapter Saturday afternoon, Oct. 24. Roy hauls water
for livestock moved to higher ground following flooding along the San
Juan River.
“This time it was like a freight train or something,” Roy said. “It was all loud.”
By afternoon, floodwater covered farmland below his home in Gad’íí’áhí/Tókǫ’í Chapter, about 11 miles northwest of Shiprock. The water had reached within 300 to 400 yards of his house.
Roy moved his seven sheep and dogs to higher ground about 1,000 feet from home. He pitched a red-and-white tent on a muddy, rock-strewn flat, set up two small shelters for the animals and parked his blue pickup nearby. He planned to spend the night there if the river continued rising.
The river normally flows past a line of yellow cottonwoods in the distance, Roy said.
The San Juan reached an estimated 23 feet overnight Friday, according to Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren, exceeding the 20.5-foot threshold for major flooding. The Shiprock bridge closed about 3 a.m. Saturday.
To read the full article, please see the Oct. 29, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
To continue reading this story, readers can purchase an e-Edition subscription through our Navajo Times Store.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow