Northern Arizona Rep. Walt Blackman has asked Gov. Katie Hobbs to declare an emergency after a suspected tornado damaged dozens of homes in Navajo County Wednesday evening.
Blackman, a Republican, said an emergency declaration could help ensure residents of Heber-Overgaard have the resources they need to recover from the rare weather event.
It would provide additional funding and could open the path to a federal emergency declaration if leaders determine it’s necessary.
“We have several homes that have been damaged because of the storm,” Blackman told KNAU. “We have some homes that have trees that have fallen on them. Vehicles with hail damage, issues with power outage.
Hobbs directed the Arizona Department of Transportation, Department of Public Safety and Department of Emergency and Military Affairs to work “hand-in-hand” with localities in the response.
“My thoughts are with the Heber-Overgaard community after a reported tornado,” she said in a post to social media. “My administration is actively coordinating with Navajo County Emergency Management on sheltering and support. I am grateful for the first responders on site who are assisting the impacted area.”
At a press conference on Thursday, local officials said a likely tornado caused significant damage to between 20 and 30 homes and one person had been hospitalized with minor injuries.
“I want to say that I'm truly blessed that we have not had a lot more injuries or any type of loss of life,” Blackman said. “And that is due to the men and women that are on the ground now, helping folks.”
Blackman said he spent Thursday morning speaking with residents impacted by the storm, and visited some areas.
“Lots of debris and fallen trees,” Blackman said. “The debris is incredible. The houses that I have seen, you'll have a house standing right next to a house that hasn't been touched and you'll have another house that has a tree falling over it or a power line may be down.”
He said the storm uprooted many trees which then fell on homes.
“One of the homes, there was a tree that fell in the backyard. It crushed the back end of the home,” Blackman said. “I was on the phone with some folks that I go to church with. There was a gentleman that I spoke to that had his trailer flipped over. We are trying to find additional help for him.”
Blackman said he’d never considered tornadoes to be a threat to the area, but it’s been encouraging to see the community pull together.
“The real warming part, though, is I see people coming out in the community, helping one another regardless of political affiliation or ideology,” he said. “These folks of different backgrounds, ethnic backgrounds, religious backgrounds, are out there helping their neighbors, coming together.”
He says he will work with local officials to review what happened and plan for similar weather events in the future.
“We need to make sure we have a solid plan going forward to mitigate this and the aftermath,” Blackman said. “We will be doing some after-action reviews on how we can reinforce infrastructure and how we get resources in and how we take care of the many folks that are on the ground.”
