Giant All-Terrain Rescue Vehicle Pulls Families From Arizona Floodwaters

Emergency crews drove a giant all-terrain rescue vehicle through muddy floodwater to reach families trapped in their homes after a creek burst its banks on the Navajo Nation on Thursday afternoon, October 22.

The Navajo Police Department released videos of the rescue, saying 30 people from seven families were rescued from their flooded homes. One clip shows a family being helped out of a house and into the vehicle, known as a SHERP, as reddish-brown water surrounds the property. Another, filmed from inside, shows the SHERP pushing through a wide brown lake where only fence posts and treetops stick out, while a third shows it rolling through the flood beneath red sandstone cliffs.

The Navajo Department of Emergency Management deployed the SHERP alongside Navajo Police, Navajo Nation Fire & Rescue Services, Navajo EMS, the Navajo Division of Transportation, local chapter staff, Arizona Department of Public Safety Rangers Air Rescue and the Kayenta Fire Department.

The National Weather Service said Laguna Creek had overtopped its banks in Dennehotso that morning, and Navajo Fire reported homes flooding by 1 p.m. The Kayenta Township declared a state of emergency, and Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said elders had been left stranded. More than 1,000 sandbags were delivered and an emergency center was set up at the Dennehotso Chapter House.