San Juan County officials warn flood threat continues and estimate hundreds were rescued as Shiprock bore the brunt Saturday
BY MATTHEW REISEN / ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
October 25, 2026
As night fell Friday, the rising waters of the San Juan River pushed into neighborhoods and flooded dozens of homes and properties. Ryan Dudgeon said she listened, helpless, as a herd of cattle bellowed in distress from somewhere in the darkness.
“There was nothing you could do and it was just devastating. And then they, you know, they just kind of stopped,” she said. “I just can’t imagine. It’s their livelihoods, and it’s just heartbreaking.”
Dudgeon, owner of Desert River Guides in Farmington, was one of many locals who jumped into action after the river broke its banks — turning the rafting shop into a makeshift animal shelter— as thousands were evacuated and first responders rescued hundreds of people across San Juan County.
On Saturday, Shiprock took the brunt of the historic flood event as the river lapped at the edges of the main bridge and submerged surrounding neighborhoods.
The flooding began Thursday as heavy rainfall hit the Four Corners region. By Friday evening, whole neighborhoods had been evacuated and at least 60 swift-water rescues happened across the county, including families lifted off rooftops by helicopter.
“It’s very surreal,” Dudgeon said. “When you’re doing it, you’re just kind of focused on what you’re doing. But if you scale it back and you notice the helicopters flying overhead and the swift-water rescuers and their rescue boats, and it’s pretty wild.”
The county declared a state of emergency, and on Saturday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham prepared a request for an emergency disaster declaration seeking federal assistance, estimating damage at $27.1 million as the San Juan and Animas rivers approached or pushed well past their flood thresholds.
A news release from the Governor’s Office said the San Juan had run 2 feet above its previous record height, set in 1909.
“Families in Bloomfield and Farmington spent the night on rooftops watching the river flood their homes, and our National Guard and State Police crews have been bringing them to safety,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “Right now, our focus is saving lives. If you’re told to evacuate, go. Once the water recedes, the state will do everything in its power to help San Juan County families rebuild.”
San Juan County Fire and Rescue Chief David Vega, in a news briefing Saturday, said it was too early to give an exact number of people they rescued.
“I will tell you, it’s high. … I suspect 200 to 300 actual rescues,” he said.
In all, Vega estimated up to 2,000 homes were impacted by flooding. Vega said fire crews had shown some heroic efforts and dealt with difficult situations.
“As of right now, we don’t know of any individuals that are still trapped. … So we feel pretty good about where we are today,” Vega said.
So far, no deaths have been reported. The number and extent of injuries remained unclear.
On Friday morning, more evacuations came in as Bloomfield police ordered residents to leave their homes along South Church Street and Road 5005, north of the San Juan River.
“We have storms impacting the area now and into the next hours, we DO expect a rise in the river,” the Bloomfield Police Department said in a Facebook post. “It is unknown what that level will be and how the impact will be.”
Vega said crews would soon search abandoned homes “to make sure that we haven’t missed anything.” He said as floodwaters drop, hazards like gas leaks and downed power lines will be exposed.
“We are literally going door to door, searching houses — making sure we have not missed anyone,” Vega said.
County Public Information Officer Devin Neeley said there was no count of how many people were displaced, but shelters, including one at McGee Park in Farmington, had not filled up.
Upon being peppered with questions on what the recovery will look like for affected homes and residents, Neeley said, “We have to get through the actual incident before we get to the recovery.”
Neeley pointed out that the Navajo Nation Police Department was unable to make the briefing. He said that’s because officers were busy rescuing residents as the area took the brunt of the storm Saturday.
“There is more water heading that way, those folks are in the thick of it right now,” Neeley said.
Navajo Nation police posted photos on Facebook Saturday afternoon showing floodwaters swallowing up roads and homes.
“Our hearts are with those affected by the flooding in Shiprock and surrounding areas,” according to the post. “We are deeply grateful to every single first responder helping our community members evacuate from their homes, carrying out rescues, and working to keep our communities safe.”
The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority said on Facebook that up to 500 Shiprock residents were without power, the wastewater treatment plant had been compromised — pushing sewage into the floodwaters — and the gas lines could be next.
The agency said gas crews were monitoring the situation, should the system have to be shut down, saying floodwaters were still expected to rise.
Before the aftermath
Throughout the news briefing, authorities warned the threat was alive and well.
San Juan County Sheriff Shane Ferrari urged evacuated residents not to return to their homes and neighborhoods to check on damage or livestock.
“My message today is that this isn’t over yet,” he said. “There’s a lot of anxiety and there’s a lot of frustration but please understand that we are blocking those areas for your safety. … We’ll get you in there as soon as the weather is going to allow us.”
With the storm expected to stick around through Sunday, Ferrari cautioned against feeling a sense of security from watching floodwaters recede. “Remember how quickly it came yesterday? This can absolutely happen again — it’s a matter of seconds that we’ve seen complete neighborhoods be taken over,” he said.
When calls for help started going out over social media, Dudgeon said she and her colleagues — with their swift-water training and knowledge of the river — geared up.
“We’re kind of traveling around in the flooded areas, trying to help people get out of their homes,” she said. A call came in Friday from a family who fled their home in Bloomfield as it flooded, leaving behind a cat and three dogs — one a puppy in a crate.
Dudgeon said the water had reached up to a foot in the home but the puppy was able to keep its head above water and the team rescued all the animals.
“I was prepared for the worst, but it was successful,” she said. “They were glad to see us, I know that much. There was lots of tail wagging when we got there.”
Afterward, the city asked Dudgeon if it could use her raft shop as a temporary shelter, setting up corrals outside and cages inside. At one point they had taken in 15 animals, including dogs, cats, chickens and rabbits.
Then around 10:30 p.m. the shop had to be evacuated as the river rose higher and everything had to be broken down and moved to another location.
“It’s been a whirlwind. It’s been a roller coaster, ups and downs, highs and lows. I was grateful to find those animals alive — then the cows, and it’s just been awful,” she said.
One friend, Dudgeon said, was on a Zoom meeting when first responders knocked. When he answered the door, the floodwaters were up to his doorstep. Another friend called to say she was watching a dog clinging to the back of a tractor-trailer.
“She had been watching it all day, and then it eventually had to give up, and so she watched it — she couldn’t get to it — and then it floated away,” Dudgeon said.
But amid the flooding, which she called both catastrophic and unbelievable, the community has jumped in for each other, friends she hadn’t seen in years and people she never met before.
“They all kind of grouped together and made it happen … and that’s still going on. You can see it all over social media, ‘we’re here to help, we have this for you, we have that for you’ — in a town that feels maybe not so connected, how connected it became.”
