Pueblo needs help, prepares for rain

SANTA CLARA PUEBLO, NM (KRQE) - The Santa Clara Pueblo is asking for help, while volunteers work to make sure its prepared for the impending flooding from the Santa Clara Canyon.

Sixteen thousand acres of pueblo land burned in the Las Conchas Fire.  That includes about 45 percent of its water shed up the canyon.

After the Cerro Grande Fire of 2000, the pueblo experienced drastic flooding. The governor of the pueblo wants to be ready this time around.

“That's our primary concern, how can we avert or rather prevent or what can we do to mitigate as much of the potential of the rain fall," Gov. Walter Dasheno said.

Since Wednesday night, volunteers have been filling sandbags and placing them around the pueblo to protect homes and government buildings.

“I saw all these other people out here working, and I wanted to contribute to the pueblo that has really been nice and generous to us,” said Mike Hill, a volunteer and member of the Type 1 Incident Command Team working out of Española. “We’ve got people from all different ethnic groups, races and ages.”

"We don't want to get caught in the situation saying we should have done it quicker, we should have done it faster, we should have had more people," Dasheno said. "We've got a call out to anyone that wishes to come out and volunteer."

For more information on how to help click here.