Douglas County hosts flooding session Aug. 6

Flash flooding in Carson Valley earlier this month has prompted Douglas County to set an Aug. 6 hearing in Minden, where residents are going to have an opportunity to gather information, provide input and view flood damage maps.

“After our staff presentation on the flooding, we wanted to give citizens a place to gather and receive information from as many resources as possible.” said Douglas County Commission Chairman Doug Johnson.

The session will be from 3:30-7 p.m. at the CVIC Hall, and will include topics like stormwater management, roads, planning, emergency services, mapping emergency management and public information.

Meanwhile, some north Valley residents are asking their neighbors to contact their representatives to reduce off-highway vehicle use on federal land.

Resident Mark Garic has been trying to reduce off-highway vehicle use near his neighborhood for many years.

Garic said off-road vehicle trails are increasing run-off from public land above Johnson Lane.

Skyline Ranch resident Janet Geary said a photo of her fenceline showing rushing water at East Valley Road and Shirley appeared in the newspaper.

“All that stuff is coming down from right above us where BLM allows ATVs,” she said. “That’s why it’s now flooding. They have signs that say ATVs this way. They’ve completely pulverized the desert up there, so that every time it rains all the silt comes down into our neighborhood.”

Geary said she and a group have met several times with the Bureau of Land Management, which has said it would set up signs to encourage people to remain on established trails.

“We’ve lost all of our landscaping in front and half of it in the back,” she said. “This happened last year. They need to provide some sort of protection to people who are down here so it doesn’t flood every time it rains. It’s cost us thousands of dollars in landscaping to restore our property.”

Garic has set up a web site discussing the issue at www.douglascountynv.org.

For more information about the county’s meeting, call (775) 782-9821 or visit www.douglascountynv.gov.

Northern Carson Valley has experienced flash flooding two summers in a row. Damage in 2014 was estimated at $1 million. A July 20, 2014, thunderstorm over Hot Springs Mountain sent floodwaters into northern Johnson Lane washing away landscaping and replacing it with silt. County officials issued three disaster declarations last year, but the state found none rose to the level of a natural disaster.

Heavy monsoon moisture from the south fed thunderstorms earlier this month, with three straight days of heavy rains in the Pine Nuts July 8-10.

That flooding washed down Johnson Lane and Buckbrush washes, as well as other drainages, to the neighborhood. At one point on July 8, Johnson Lane and Stephanie Way were closed while waters rushed across them.

County commissioners declared a disaster that day, and state officials responded to the neighborhood to collect information about the damage.

The county has been cleaning up ditches and culverts in the neighborhood since.