Mud everywhere
Navajo chapters declare mud emergency

Dogs follow their owner's truck down a muddy stretch of road in Crystal on Saturday afternoon. Recent snowfall has made road conditions hazardous on some remote sections of the Navajo Reservation, causing the Navajo Nation to declare a state of emergency for eight chapterhouses. [Photo by Brian Leddy/Independent]

By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

NAVAJO — Eight Navajo Nation communities declared emergencies last week because of muddy road conditions resulting from the recent snow fall.

Among the chapters are Klagetoh, Inscription House, Wide Ruins, Beclabito, Crystal, Sawmill, Black Mesa and Navajo Mountain.

The Navajo Dept. of Emergency Management and other resources are on standby while these chapters deal with recovery issues related to snow melt. Arizona ’s Apache County has also declared an emergency.

In the meantime, residents are coping as well as they can despite the weather conditions that are causing icy paved roads and muddy dirt roads in their communities.

“It’s just dangerous, icy,” Rachel Goy, from Crystal, said.
On Saturday, Goy was at the Navajo Pine Market. She said that on her way over, she slid out of her driveway and put a dent in her truck because of the icy conditions.

She was also having problems getting her daughter to school during the week because of the huge amount of ice at the turn off to the area schools.

While the focus of officials appears to be on roads, Goy said that people also need energy assistance.

“Our heating bill was $245 and usually it’s $100 to $150,” she said, adding that she has no choice but to pay it because there are two small children in her home.

For Andy Halona, also from Crystal, his family was prepared for harsh winter conditions even though they live on an unpaved road.

“We got prepared early for this kind of stuff,” he said as he gassed up at the local convenient store.

“It seems like the Crystal Chapter sent out a grader and is grading the road for the people and community. That’s pretty good,” Halona said.

In fact, the chapter did have its grader out on Saturday and was helping to clear up roads for residents along with a grader from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Crystal’s community services coordinator Veda Francisco said that the chapter is also doing wood contracting and getting some coal for the community. On Thursday, she and the community health representative made home site visits to reach high risk residents.

“A lot of them are on medication so you have to keep track of them and make sure they have their supplies,” she said.

She added she and others were planning to visit some residents in the mountain area to take them food. She said there are between 90 and 115 people residing in hard-to-reach areas of the mountain.

Heavy snow
Where Francisco lives near Assayi Lake, the snow is nearly a foot high. Wanting for the other community members to be serviced first, she was still waiting for the grader to become available to clear the roads in that area.
Klagetoh Chapter officials, staff and volunteers were also working on Saturday to help residents with the conditions.
Klagetoh Chapter President Stenson Wauneka said there was 9 inches of snow in some areas of the chapter.

The chapter officials used the emergency response plan which was adopted by the chapter membership and gives them the authority to declare emergencies when there is more than 6 inches of accumulated snow.

“The purpose is to ensure the safety of constituents,” Wauneka said.

Wauneka added that a majority of the roads in the chapter are unpaved and the officials were concerned with the burnout area.

“I felt, why should I just sit around and wait for someone to get hurt before responding? I felt something needed to be done,” Wauneka said. Knowing that the chapter had an emergency response plan, the officials took action and declared an emergency on Monday.

The Klagetoh community is working with the Wide Ruins Chapter, which also declared an emergency, to respond to constituent needs.

“We have established a command center,” Wauneka said. Volunteers attend to the telephones and go out to take food to affected residents. The visits usually take place in the evenings when the grounds freeze and vehicles are less likely to get stuck.

The Klagetoh Chapter also hired a contractor to help clear roads from the major roads to residents’ homes.

Black Mesa
In the Black Mesa Chapter, residents are usually prepared for emergencies because of the remoteness of their community, Jeff Greyeyes said.

Greyeyes has grandparents who live in Black Mesa and he has to travel there from his home in Kayenta on a regular basis.

“When you live up there, you know the conditions and you basically prepare,” he said.

The people in the area are now dealing with icy roads in the mornings and muddy roads during the day. Because of the road conditions, travel can be dangerous and most travel in the late evenings when the ground freezes.

“You have to have a shovel. You have to have a radio or a phone,” Greyeyes said.

In the past, when the land area was in dispute, little was done to help clear the roads, he said.

“Now they developed a system where they can maintain roads better,” he said.

He also noted that since much of the chapter was in the area that was a part of the Navajo-Hopi land dispute, many people still do not have electricity.

“It’s really isolated,” Greyeyes said.

All chapters in weather-impacted areas are asked to report needs through the assessment forms that were faxed to them and return completed forms to the Navajo Nation Dept. of Emergency Management. All chapters in weather-impacted areas are encouraged to assess their communities, do site visits and use emergency funds to assist people in need.

The Navajo Dept. of Transportation, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, chapters and the county have all been plowing snow-packed roads this week.

Jimson Joe, program director for DEM, encouraged safety to avoid injuries. Joe said communication is important for people to maintain in remote areas.

Info: NNDEM (928) 871-6892.