The Alamo Navajo reservation has been hit with some bad luck as of late, with an electric outage bringing things to a standstill last week. On Monday, a crucial water well went down, leaving most of the Alamo community high and dry.

The pump problem was reported to have been fixed on Monday, but Alamo’s storage tank had run dry. “It’s fixed, but it will take time to replenish,” Alamo Navajo athletic director Barbara Gordon said. “We had to dismiss school early on Monday, and there were no classes on Tuesday.”

It’s the second unexpected “mini-vacation” playing havoc with learning and sports practices.

The pump’s inability to provide water was due to its motor going out, and Lemitar’s Williams’ Windmills quickly stepped up to get a replacement set up and working.

Most of the Alamo community lost all their perishable food, including domestic and game meat stored in freezers. The Co-op members notified the office of these losses, and a call was made to Socorro’s Positive Outcomes and the Roadrunner Food Bank to ask for help.

According to J.C. Trujillo, Positive Outcomes and other groups immediately began planning how to assist the community. Eventually, the governor’s office and Homeland Security were also involved. Starting at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, more than 33,000 pounds of food were distributed at the Alamo Wellness Center Gym. Distributions were made on a first-come, first-served basis, with no proof of income needed.

One public misconception was whether or not the Co-op’s insurance would pay for the lost perishables.

According to spokesperson Jerrid Williams, there was a misunderstanding. The Co-op is actively seeking applications from the community to cover customer losses.

“We have told everyone to fill out an insurance claim form and include photos or receipts for spoiled food from the days of the outage,” Williams said. “We will file these claims with the insurance company, and they will decide whether or not to honor the claims.”

Claim forms for Alamo residents are available online at www.SocorroElectric.com or by visiting the office at 215 Manzanares Ave. in Socorro.

Russell Huffman | Assistant Editor