3 Floods in 30 Days: Navajo Voters Use Tractors to Reach Polls
In Dennehotso, residents navigated mud and washed out roads to cast ballots at the Chapterhouse.
By Amelia Gupta ·
Voters in Dennehotso, Arizona, arrived at the local Chapterhouse on Tuesday with mud-caked tires and stories of driving tractors to reach the polls.
The Navajo Nation has faced three major floods in the last month. The most severe event began on October 22, when waters from 60 miles away surged into the community.
Local contractor Kev Woolboy coordinated the response efforts while checking watersheds along the highway. He noted that man-made earth dams were intended to slow the water but failed under the heavy rainfall.
"But there was so much rain, those earth dams didn't stand a chance," Woolboy said.
The floodwaters destroyed homes and newly built roads. Power and water were knocked out, leaving parts of the town covered in thick, reddish brown silt.
Phyllis Yazzie, 74, was at home with her son having breakfast when her niece warned her to leave. The water rose quickly, forcing them to park their car on the highest point of their land.
"We parked the car and we spent the night in the vehicle," Yazzie said.
Woolboy used an amphibious vehicle provided by the Navajo Police Department to rescue residents. He jumped into the water to help children and elders with their belongings. As darkness fell, the mix of rain and silt made it impossible to distinguish the ground from the water.
Woolboy realized the road to Yazzie's house had disappeared. "I told the guys something doesn't look right," he recalled. The team turned on their floodlights, found no road, and turned around.
Two weeks later, a backhoe built a temporary road on election day to connect isolated residents to the polls.
Volunteer drivers and Chapter employees shuttled voters to the site. Some drove for hours.
Vera Begay brought her 92-year-old mother, Lilien Begay, who lost her home and all identification documents in the flood. "She's never missed her vote, all her life she's come here for voting," Begay said. The elder, speaking in Navajo, described herself as emotionally devastated by the loss of her home and documents. The turnout at the Dennehotso Chapterhouse reflected a community bringing itself back together after a difficult month.
