Tag: flood

A new site has been set up, Hello Fernley, for communication and information sharing among all the people affected by the Fernley flood. The waters have mostly receded, but the hard work is just starting as people try to put their lives back together. Many of them without flood insurance, because they didn't even know they lived in an area that needed flood insurance.

Also Fernley News is a local site that has a lot of coverage.

The local newspapers have been doing better coverage than I ever could on the flood and the aftermath. Check out the Lahontan Valley News, the Reno Gazette-Journal, and the Nevada Appeal. Also look at the videos of the flood on YouTube (via the RGJ).

So we woke up this morning to the largest snowfall we've had in nearly a year. I measured a solid six inches in Carson City and the Carson Valley both. Some are reporting drifts of up to 12 inches in areas. So I'd call this a pretty successful storm. Plus, it's noon and we've had hardly any melting yet, so that's another out-of-the-ordinary occurrence for us. And another wave is supposed to be hitting tonight, bringing in possibly another six inches.

Of course all eyes are on Fernley this morning, where a levee broke along the Truckee-Carson Canal early this morning, sending three to six feet of water into the neighborhoods in southern Fernley. So that could mean that thousands of people might have to weather this next storm in a makeshift high school shelter instead of in their own homes.

The Nevada Appeal has a few flooding pictures here and here and here.

My New Year's resolution should be telling myself that it's okay to publish a story without a picture attached. I can't tell you how many things I would see happening last year on my daily drive, but I wouldn't write about them because I couldn't stop to take a picture. And by the time I did finally get a chance to photograph it, it was too late. Or it just slipped out of my mind, and I never got the picture, and I never wrote the story. Everybody loses!

So here are a couple of things I'm making myself write about, even though I didn't get a picture.

* I left town for a few days, and when I came back part of the signal at Stephanie Way and Hwy 395 was installed. It's just one pole and two signal heads, but it's more than when I left. Woo hoo!
Of course, it came too late for one family. And it wouldn't be needed if NDoT would just build a couple of overpasses and turn 395 into a controlled-access freeway like it should be.

* The new Suzuki dealership is open on South Carson Street, next to Kragen's. Right now it's just an empty dirt lot, but this year they're supposed to build a five-story showroom on that tiny lot. The land has sat empty for years and years, ever since they demolished Tequila Dan's restaurant.
Also, they've got Smart Cars on the lot! Vroom vroom!

* Wayne Kremer was robbed.

*The Oasis trailer park next to the Albertson's in south Carson is being demolished. The land was sold last year to a retail developer, and soon the site will be home to a strip mall and office space. But first the mobile homes had to be moved out. Many of them were moved, but a few were stripped of their valuables and left behind to be crushed by the heavy equipment. The trees were the next to go, and as of today the only thing left on the site is the two-story permanent structure that housed the park office. It'll probably come down this week. There's been controversy about these mobile home parks, like the Oasis and the one that was next to Bodine's restaurant. On the one hand, they're huge eyesores right on the main street through town. But on the other hand, they're the only option left for affordable housing if you want to live in the Eagle Valley. Many people who work in Carson City can't afford to live here except in a low-rent apartment or trailer park, and with the parks being sold and demolished there are even fewer available spots.

* It's the 10th anniversary of the Big Flood of '97, and while I remember it vividly, it occurs to me that probably a good portion of you weren't around back then. You don't realize how many bridges there are in the Carson Valley until all of them simultaneously close, and you end up stuck on one side or the other of the river.

* Don't check your mail today. The Post Office is closed due to a national day of mourning for President Ford.

* We've had a drier-than-usual winter so far, but once again reports of a big storm are trickling in, supposedly hitting us on Thursday. Will we finally get some snow on the ground this time? Or will it pass us by once again? Either way, it looks like we'll get more wind for sure.

* Sorry for all the junk you've been seeing on the site the last few days. I guess that's the downside of building a site from scratch; you've got nobody to blame but yourself when the thing gets spammed.