Click the link to read the article on The Navajo Times website (Donovan Quintero). Here’s an excerpt:
A surge on the San Juan River moved toward Shiprock on Friday after two days of storms flooded homes, stranded families and forced rescues throughout the Navajo Nation. The San Juan River at Shiprock reached 17.3 feet Friday night, above the 15.5-foot flood stage, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters expected the river to reach 20.7 feet late Saturday morning, just above major flood stage of 20.5 feet. Upstream in Farmington, the river reached 14.1 feet Friday, surpassing the previous record of 12.3 feet set in 1909. By late afternoon, the river had spread over its floodplain beside the U.S. Highway 64 bridges in Shiprock…At an earlier San Juan County briefing Friday, Navajo Police Deputy Chief Donnie Kee said the highest water was expected to reach Shiprock late Friday night or early Saturday…Police warned families along the river from Farmington west through Upper Fruitland, Nenahnezad, San Juan Chapter, Hogback and Shiprock to Montezuma Creek, Utah. Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren and Shiprock Chapter Vice President Debra Yazzie issued an evacuation alert for families near the river…The floodwater also carried raw sewage after rising water inundated the Bloomfield wastewater treatment plant upstream of Navajo communities, sending untreated wastewater into the river.
