Elderly Flagstaff couple trapped in home surrounded by mud wall: 'We can't get out'

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - One elderly couple in Flagstaff has been trapped in their home for weeks after nonstop flooding created a thick wall of mud surrounding their home.

Arizona's high country has been hit with severe flooding on a near-regular basis, and the damage has only been made worse because of burn scars left behind by major wildfires like the Museum and Pipeline fires.  

Ruth Sisco and her husband Glenn are in their 80s and have been stuck inside for weeks. The mud is trapping them in, and with each new round of rainfall, the problem is compounding.

"We can't get out," Sisco said.

Friday was the first time the couple left their home in weeks. Mud towering three feet high is blocking their driveway and surrounding their home.

"Our road up to our house, from the gate there, there’s no gravel, anything, we don’t even have a driveway," Sisco said.

The mud has packed down a bit, and they were able to drive on top of some mud on their neighbor's front lawn. But Glenn recently suffered a stroke, and all their neighbors are worried about emergency crew access.

"He needs medical care," said neighbor Cindy Garcia. "And if something was to happen, they couldn’t get back to them."

Garcia has been walking over to deliver food, and the couple's grandchildren have been bringing over their medications, but they say they can't continue to go on like this.

Their neighbors have been trying to help them dig the mud out, but that, too, poses a problem.

"The county put out a letter that says that anything that you do to deviate water flow could affect people downstream and upstream, and financially, you’d be responsible," Garcia said.

But neighbors in the Timberline community just want to help their own while simultaneously dealing with their own problems from the floods.

"It’s just a big change in my life, and then all this happens, and it’s hard," Sisco said.

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