Images and words by Lily Dale

A Day in Hatch

 

“Do you know if my home will be torn down? Or will I get money for the damage?” the older gentleman asked me in Spanish as he crossed the street to meet me.

I was in Hatch, New Mexico, photographing damage caused by the recent floods for my photojournalism class. On my first pass through, I saw Carlos Cordero’s house. The front door was marked by a red “X.” He had taped a poster of a saint to his front window.

“I have no idea,” I answered him. I explained I was a student at New Mexico State University on a class assignment.

“Come see the damage the water did to my house,” he offered. I followed Cordero to his front door and listened to his story of how the floodwaters entered his home.

 

“I opened the door to my house and I had to run from here,” he said, pointing to the front door, “to the back of the house because the water came rushing in.”

Everything the man owned was piled into the center of each of his three rooms. Sheetrock was missing from many of the walls, and the walls that were still in place had mold growing on them.  New sheetrock was sitting in the middle of the first room.

Cordero led me from his front door to the back of his house. The backyard was filled with mud, and water damage was visible along the side wall.

He told me he spoke with FEMA recently, but seemed confused as to what would happen to his house. He said FEMA told him he was missing documents that would help process the paperwork.

“They told me I needed to go to the courthouse in Las Cruces to get them but I don’t have a way to get there,” he said. He added that he also had to buy a cell phone so that he could be reached in case FEMA called him. He fumbled through his wallet to find his phone number, which he had written on a piece of paper.

Cordero is 77 years old and walks everywhere he needs to go. He works as a tree pruner during the week and picks chile on the weekends.

 

I took his information to the FEMA office a few blocks down. The office is clearly marked and easy to find. FEMA has been highly visible in the area for the last few weeks. Flyers announcing their location and urging people to apply for financial assistance were prominent throughout the Hatch Chile Festival. This morning, I was the first one in the office.

Manager Gary Dorman listened intently to my story of Mr. Cordero. He told me “these are the kinds of people FEMA is working hard to find right now.”  He assured me he would send someone to check on Cordero to make sure he is OK.

When I left Hatch that day, my mind stayed on Mr. Cordero. While I know I did what I could to help him, I feel I haven’t done enough.

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