flooding

There were just a few residents in attendance at Tuesday's construction kickoff meeting about the City of South Lake Tahoe's Sierra Tract Erosion Control Project, Phases 3 & 4. The project will reduce erosion and sediment discharges in to the Upper Truckee River and Lake Tahoe.

City planners and the contractor were on hand to present the building schedule and explain what residents will experience over the next two building seasons.

Climate experts say El Nino is growing stronger and could bring drought-busting wet weather to California this year. While the ocean condition is nearly guaranteed, rainfall doesn’t always follow the sea temperature increase.

On Thursday, scientists at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) said chances for El Nino this summer are close to 100 percent, with simulations suggesting by December, it could exceed the devastating 1997-1998 event that brought widespread flooding and hurricane-force winds to most of California.

Friday morning 10 a.m.: Phone call comes in to the Evans home in Round Hill, Nevada. There is major flooding in the country of Malawi and his help is needed.

Friday afternoon 3 p.m: Ryder Evans is on a plane to the African nation for at least a two week stay.

Last summer's flash floods in Douglas County caused $927,205 in damage, far below the federal minimum of $3,753,710 needed in order to receive federal assistance.

While Douglas County Emergency Management had requested that due to the close timing of these events (July 20, July 30, Aug. 6 and Aug. 11) the state consider combining all damage under one event, FEMA regulations do not allow for combining damage costs of multiple events.

Douglas County Board of Commissioners have requested a State of Emergency for the series of floods that have hit the region since July 20. In doing so, funds can come into the county to help replenish depleted coffers and to help with the repair of public infrastructure such as county maintained roads, culverts, and drainage.

Cleanup efforts continue on roads in the Carson Valley that were covered in mud, dirt and debris after the flooding developed after the wet storm that hit the area on July 20.

Crews from Douglas County as well as private contractors are on the job.

Shortly after the flooding began, County Commission, Staff and East Fork Fire met to develop an action plan and began calling for additional resources from Carson City. A declaration of Emergency was not declared due to fact that the flood did not rise to the level of overwhelming the county’s resources to protect health and safety.

Lake Tahoe doesn't have Punxsutawney Phil but we do have busy beavers who have been entertaining those lucky enough to come across their paths. South Lake Tahoe local John McDougall has been visiting the Taylor Creek area over the last two weeks, observing the beavers and capturing their actions on film. Even though beavers are nocturnal, the ones captured here are busy on their dam building during daylight hours.

Tuesday's storm in South Lake Tahoe brought plenty of rain to go along with the hail. This photo was taken at Fairview and Highway 50. Photo submitted by Kurt Buttstadt

Flooding in all quarters. Decades worth of erosion in a few weeks. Devastating landslides and avalanches. Hurricane force winds and tree falls. Road, power, and business outages. And then the real impacts to Lake Tahoe and ecosystems begin.

TAHOE/TRUCKEE - A day after most regional officials and residents were breathing a collective sigh of relief that forecast of major flooding in the Truckee area didn't pan out, Tahoe ski resorts ar...

UPDATE 11:10AM: The Douglas County Emergency Management has implemented a precautionary action plan for this weekend’s weather event. The Management team met this morning and discussed the event thus far. The major event has been a downed tree on Centerville Road, but has since been removed.

Snow, heavy rain and strong winds are expected for the Sierra, Lake Tahoe and Western Nevada through the weekend. The National Weather Service in Reno has issued a Winter Weather Advisory and Wind Advisory from 10 Thursday night through 4 p.m. Friday for areas above 7,000 feet. For the first wave of a series of three storms, anywhere between 8 to 16 inches of snow is expected around 7,000 feet and above and between 2 to 3 feet above 8,000 feet.

NEW ORLEANS - Isaac sloshed north into the central U.S. on Friday after flooding stretches of Louisiana and knocking out power, leaving entire water-logged neighborhoods without lights, air conditi...

After four years of contesting data used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop flood maps for the Carson Valley, a ruling by a Scientific Resolution Panel found the FEMA requirements doesn't meet its own flood insurance program mapping standards.

Lake Tahoe may be one of the most studied lakes in the world, but just how to translate all that climate change data into action remains a challenge. Data suggest a decrease in snow, more extremes like drought and flooding and reduced lake clarity.
Data suggest climate change is bringing an increased risk of more severe forest fires, but warming temperatures may cause other complex ecosystem changes. Local agencies are already planning ways to mitigate and adapt, but making policy based on models that show global trends over the next century is not an easy task.

The Nevada Division of Emergency Management/Homeland Security and the National Weather Service are partnering together to educate the citizens of Nevada on National Flood Safety Awareness Week, March 12-16.

According to the National Weather Service, Floods and Flash Floods are the #1 weather-related killer in the United States and can occur any time of the year. This is why the Nevada Division of Emergency Management and the National Weather Service Offices in Reno, Las Vegas, and Elko want to help spread the word about being flood safe.

Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part installment.TAHOE/TRUCKEE, Calif. - During the second survey of the 2012 water year on Feb. 1, Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Sn...

CARSON CITY — A conservative Nevada think tank today announced the second case taken on by its Center for Justice and Constitutional Litigation (CJCL), this one aimed at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for allegedly flooding a Pahrump church camp through negligent and illegal work on two streams.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A Southwest Gas Corporation subcontractor accidentally hit a four inch steel waterline earlier this afternoon, causing flooding near the intersection of Herbert Avenue...