Navajo Nation Flood Kills 3, Including 7-Year-Old, Near Newcomb

Tribal police on the Navajo Nation received a report at about 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 16, that people had been washed away by floodwaters near Newcomb, a community of roughly 400 people in northwestern New Mexico. Search crews found the bodies of two adults and a child, the Associated Press reported that day; authorities gave no details beyond saying the drownings were under investigation.

On Friday, Sept. 18, family members identified the three to the AP: Elsie Begay, her 7-year-old granddaughter Lucy Allison Mike, and Begay's best friend Dora Franklin. The AP's first report placed the deaths early on Wednesday; its later account, based on the family, dates the flood to Tuesday.

Three generations of the family had been heading home with supplies for an 8th birthday party when their truck got stuck in mud as storms rolled through, the AP reported. Kalisi Begay walked home while her mother and daughter stayed behind. The water rose quickly, and the grandmother, the girl and a friend they had called for help were swept away while trying to cross a wash. "I think she was just wanting to get home," said Stella Wilson, Begay's niece.

The Navajo Nation Commission on Emergency Management voted 6-0 at Window Rock on Sept. 17 to amend emergency declaration CEM 26-004, first issued on July 24, and President Buu Nygren concurred and signed it. The declaration stays in force until the monsoon season lapses or it is terminated. The Commission's Sept. 18 release lists critical emergency situations in nine communities across Arizona and New Mexico, among them Chinle, Newcomb and Sanostee.

Nygren's office said the Executive and Legislative branches allocated $6 million among all 110 Chapters, and that the amendment directs the Navajo Department of Transportation to coordinate with the Federal Highway Administration on emergency relief programs. "This response is moving, and our people need to know that help is coming," Nygren said in that statement.

For residents, the immediate problem is roads. Multiple routes were still closed on Sept. 18. About 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Newcomb, in Mexican Springs, dirt and gravel roads were impassable. "A lot of ditches are washed out, the culvert pipes are gone. There's big old, massive holes in the road," maintenance worker Darnell Etsitty told the AP. The chapter house there was converted into a temporary shelter, with volunteers using ATVs to deliver food and water. Navajo police said three families in Shiprock were evacuated on the evening of Sept. 18 as water rose near the San Juan River.

Still unknown: no official Nation-wide fatality count beyond the three has been published. The National Weather Service in Albuquerque said on Sept. 16 that moisture levels across the Four Corners were expected to be near record levels for mid-September, the AP reported. Damage assessments continue, and the resolution authorizes the Nation to request federal assistance.