UPDATE: Food drops to continue through Monday on Navajo and Hopi Nations; many remain stranded
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Nearly 22,000 meals have been distributed on the Navajo and Hopi Nations, and the air drops will continue at least through Monday, according to Eric Neitzel, spokesman for the Arizona emergency management department.
About 22,000 gallons of drinking water has been distributed, and rescue workers are trying to get to families who are signaling pilots from the ground, writes Cyndy Cole of the Flagstaff (Ariz.) Sun.
Those people “are using blankets, waving them in the air, or using mirrors,” and pilots are still finding snowbound communities they didn’t know about, Neitzel tells Cole. adding that pilots were still finding communities they had not known about.
As the snow melts, mud has become nearly as problematic.
Maxine Wadsworth says that five road-clearing vehicles on the Hopi Nation now need repairs, and some roads are nearly impassable, hindering efforts to get wood or coal to as many as 600 people.
“The requests for assistance are overwhelming,” says Wadsworth, spokeswoman for the tribe’s response team.
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She has had several reports of families with roofs caved in or walls falling off mud-and-stone homes, and one case of livestock freezing in place.
Although Wadsworth feels sad about the dead livestock, the priority this week is on helping people who need food or medicine.
Some in the community have ridden horseback to reach faraway families, and food is being dropped by air.
Gwen Florio
Tags: Arizona Emergency Management Department, Hopi Nation, Navajo Nation





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