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3 killed in Navajo Nation flood include 7-year-old preparing for her birthday · Best of: Features

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  Three killed in Navajo Nation flood include seven year old preparing for
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  her birthday. Written by Jessica Hill and Savannah Peters. This article is
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  being read by an automated voice, generated by Everlet. Albuquerque, New Mexico,
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  the AP, three generations of a Navajo family, were heading home from
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  picking up supplies for an eighth birthday party when their truck got
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  stuck in mud as storms with heavy rain rolled through the area.
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  Khaleesi Begay opted to walk home while her mother and seven year
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  old daughter stayed behind. The water rose quickly. Soon the grandmother and
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  granddaughter, along with a friend they had called for help, were swept
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  away in the flood waters while trying to cross a wash. Elsie
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  Bigay, her granddaughter Lucy Allison Mike, and Bigay's best friend, Dora Franklin,
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  died in the flood Tuesday near Newcombe, New Mexico. A community of
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  about four hundred people, family members, said Friday. I think she was
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  just wanting to get home, said Stella Wilson, Begay's niece. Flash flooding
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  across the Navajo Nation this week has damaged roads, forced evacuations, and
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  claimed the three lives as a late season surge of monsoon moisture
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  brings heavy rain to the Four Corners region. Navajo police said three
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  families in Shiprock, New Mexico were evacuated Friday evening due to rising
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  water levels and flooding near the San Juan River. Navajo Nation President
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  Boo Nigren declared a state of emergency Friday as some communities remained
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  isolated by standing water and road damage and rain continued to fall.
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  Multiple roads on the Navajo Nation remained closed Friday. Please use alternate
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  routes, check on our elders and relatives, and follow the guidance of
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  our emergency personnel, Nigrin said in a statement. About forty miles sixty
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  four kilometers south of Newcombe, in the small community of Mexican Springs,
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  flooding made many dirt and gravel roads impassable, stranding some families and
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  leaving others unable to reach home. A lot of ditches are washed
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  out, the culvert pipes are gone. There's big old massive holes in
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  the
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  road said Darnell et City, a maintenance worker with the local government
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  who spent Friday building alternate routes to help people get in and
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  out. Et city said the Mexican Springs chapter house had been converted
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  into a temporary shelter, and volunteers are using ATVs to deliver food,
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  water, and supplies to stranded households. Wilson said the road conditions continue
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  to be bad and her family still can't get to Wilson mother.
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  She urged others to be patient and wait for help. I just
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  want to make sure other families make it home, she said. Elsie
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  Bigay worked as a business technician at Sanostee
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  Day School where Mike attended as a third grader. Franklin was a
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  bus driver for another nearby school. Bigay and Franklin loved working with
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  kids, Wilson said. Bigay would decorate the school's front office for every
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  holiday and make everyone feel welcome, and Franklin would give candy to
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  kids as they got on the bus, she said. Bigay also participated
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  in fundraisers and helped with community events. Mike was recently crowned Miss
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  Sanistee Day School on september fourth, and was looking forward to her
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  eighth birthday party next Tuesday. Wilson described her niece as beautiful and
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  bright. She was a big blessing to her family, Wilson said.