ELIZABETH ARAKELIAN, HOST: The Tule River Indian Reservation in the eastern foothills of the Sequoia National Forest suffered severe flooding in early March. The community of more than 1,500 Indigenous people was left without food, water and electricity for more than 2 weeks. KVPR’s Esther Quintanilla has this story. ESTHER QUINTANILLA: Snowmelt runoff from the Sierra Nevada washed away the only entrance to the reservation – just east of Porterville – and completely stranded residents. Neil Peyron is the chairman of the Tule River Tribal Council. NEIL PEYRON: There was no way off the reservation at all. There were people without food. There were some people without water. QUINTANILLA: According to Peyron, flood waters in the South Fork of the Tule River rose as high as 18 feet. It ripped up domestic water and sewer lines, telephone poles and bridges across the reservation.