Navajo voters hop tractors, make extraordinary efforts to vote after widespread flooding

People on the Navajo Reservation had to make extra effort to vote this year.

It's a region of the southwest that's been hit this fall by repeated flooding. Roads washed out, driving thousands of people from their homes.

But voters turned out, in the parts of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico that the reservation stretches across. Yesterday at the Dennehotso Chapterhouse, voters rolled up in trucks with mud-caked tires.

The town is framed by the picturesque sandstone cursive of Comb Ridge, the stone spires of Monument Valley peeking over the ridgeline.

In the parking lot, people gathered to eat fry bread and mutton stew, something common at Navajo polling sites.

"I love to see our people come out and talk amongst each other," said 27-year-old Urbina Yazzie, adding that this year's election is unusual.

"People are having to drive on tractors to get from one road to another, just to come and vote," she said.

Dennehotso has been knocked around by floods this fall, three in the last month. But the big one that residents will talk about for decades to come, started on October 22.

Local contractor Kev Woolboy was helping coordinate response efforts, checking watersheds along the highway, as floodwaters from as far as 60 miles away raced toward town.

"We have some man-made earth dams that were supposed to slow (the water) down," Woolboy said. "But there was so much rain, those earth dams didn't stand a chance."

The floodwaters ravaged homes and newly-built roads, knocking out power and water, and leaving part of the town covered in thick, goopy mud.

"We thought we were safe," said 74-year-old Phyllis Yazzie.

Yazzie was at home with her son that day, having a late breakfast, when her niece called.

"And she says, 'Auntie! You better get out of there!'" Yazzie recalled. "I said, 'Why?' And she says, 'the flood's heading that way.' And so I went outside, I started looking towards the wash, and I saw the water rising.'"

They tried to drive out their dirt road, but were forced back to the highest point on their land, while a torrent of water carved ravines on both sides of their house.

"We parked the car and we spent the night in the vehicle," Yazzie said. "But they were trying to rescue us."

While Yazzie and her son huddled in their car, Kev Woolboy was working his way toward them, as the local guide for the Navajo Police Department, who had brought in an amphibious vehicle to rescue residents.

"I was jumping into the water and bringing the kids and some of the elders on board and helping them with their personal belongings," Woolboy said.

As it grew dark, and the flood waters rose, Woolboy says it became impossible to tell the difference between the ground and a swirling mix of rainfall and reddish brown silt.

They got close to Phyllis Yazzie's house, Woolboy asked the officers to stop the vehicle.

"I told the guys something doesn't look right," Woolboy recalled. "So they turned on their floodlights to where I could see. There was no road there. We had to turn around, we couldn't get Phyllis that night."

Two weeks later, residents were still digging out. On election day, a backhoe was building a temporary road so that residents cut off from town could reach the polls at the Chapterhouse

Volunteer drivers, and Chapter employees were shuttling people there, too. Some people drove hours to get there.

Vera Begay was there, with her 92-year-old mother Lilien Begay, who lost her home and all of her identification documents.

"She's never missed her vote- all her life she's come here for voting," said Vera Begay.

The elder Begay, speaking in Navajo, said she is emotionally devastated.

This year in Dennehoto, and across the region, flooding has brought out the best in communities.

"It means a lot more to our people to come out and vote," said 27-year-old Urbina Yazzie. "Because this is a very very important time to do so, especially with the flood and all that's happening all over the Navajo Nation. It's tough out here."