Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema was in Flagstaff Friday, getting a tour of flood damage from the Schultz-Pipeline flood area. Sinema went through Wupatki Trails and Timberline, seeing some of the flood damage and homes that have mitigated from the flood. She tells KAFF News she will head back to Washington to get started on sending more federal funds to the county for flood mitigation. She says, “it’s very clear we need to garner appropriate funds from the federal government to create alluvial fans up in the fire areas to help defuse the flow of water.” Sinema adds, “after Schultz, the government came in about three years after the fire and built some of the waterways to help the flow. We can’t wait three years, because another fire can happen next year. We need to do that now.” She also she plans to fight hard to get an additional $20-to-$30 million dollars Coconino County needs for flood mitigation and she plans to make sure more dollars go to forest health and thinning during the “off-season.” The senator says she also heard from people about how difficult it is for people to afford flood insurance. She says she is on a banking committee in Washington and she feels she can do some things to make flood and fire insurance easier to obtain and other problems that have come up in post-fire areas. Sinema also met with officials from Northern Arizona Health Care and the Greater Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce during her visit to Flagstaff.
To listen to Dave’s exclusive interview with Senator Sinema, click here:
