High winds near 80 mph knocked down trees and cut power to western Nevada Thursday.
About 12:30 p.m. a tree fell taking down a powerline at Musser and Mountain streets. Power was restored by early evening.
The Carson River was above 8 feet by 3 p.m. Thursday. The river was expected to crest about mid-day today at 10.6 feet, which is moderate flooding. In January, the river reached 11.04 feet.
Snow levels are forecast to fall to 6,000 to 6,500 feet by this afternoon.
In all, 1 to 2 feet of snow above 8,000 feet is possible by tonight, with up to 3 feet at the Sierra crest. Six to 12 inches of snow is possible between 7,000 and 8,000 feet, with the chance for 2 to 5 inches of snow at lake level — after rain turns to snow. Rain is expected to continue until this afternoon.
Carson City officials said Wednesday the city’s storm drain system is surcharged — overloaded beyond its design capacity — and storm water is coming out of the drains onto the streets near the downtown. Please slow down and be cautious when driving on streets that have water over the roadway.
The following roads remained closed:
Rhodes Street was closed from Carson Street to Curry Street, except to local business traffic.
A 100 foot section of Combs Canyon Road that’s 1/8 of a mile south of the Lakeview Road intersection — travel was reduced to one lane, please use caution and yield to oncoming traffic. Residents were advised to use the Highway 395 egress/ingress for the Lakeview subdivision.
Carson City Public Works encourages residents to visit www.carson.org to stay up-to-date on the weather, road closures, trail/path closures, sandbag locations and resources that are deployed across the city. Additional public information that’s released will be posted to the City website flood page.
A Flood Hotline has been designated for flood related reporting and questions, which are not life-threatening. The number is (775) 887-2355 and officials ask the public to use this number instead of 9-1-1 for non-emergency flood calls.
In Douglas County, Highway 395 south of Gardnerville was closed after a semi truck was blown over at about 1 p.m. Thursday.
Around the same time, NV Energy reported 122 separate power outages affecting 7,570 Douglas County customers. More than 5,800 of those were in Gardnerville and included major stores south of town. Traffic lights along Highway 395 at Buckeye Road and Gilman Avenue were out, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
“Residents should expect power outages and property damage such as downed fences, hazardous down powerlines and downed trees,” Douglas County Spokeswoman Melissa Blosser said. “Plan for hazardous travel conditions for high profile vehicles. Consider delaying or rerouting travel around wind prone areas. Strong turbulence and wind shear will impact aviation interests in the region possibly resulting in delays or cancellations.”
Winds knocked power poles down along Muller Lane, closing one of the main routes between the center of the Valley and Foothill Road.
The roof of the Sierra Ranchos Car Wash blew into power lines in the Gardnerville Ranchos. Reports included a shed blowing into Highway 395 near the Carson Valley Medical Center. In Ruhenstroth, a fence was all that stood between a 24-foot travel trailer being propelled by the wind and a propane tank.
Trees blew over onto homes and power lines fell into roadways along Waterloo Lane, Marlette Circle, Arrowhead Drive and a variety of other locations.
Traffic was diverted away from Highway 395 and Buckeye Road because of fears the scaffolding around the Bently Heritage project would fall down.
The Douglas County Community & Senior Center was established as a shelter at 1 p.m. Thursday. County officials said it would be open into the night.
Closed roads across Carson Valley included Marlette and Mottsville, Genoa Lane, Muller and Nye lanes.
Response priorities for county road crews include life safety, preventing damage to homes, maintaining emergency access to property, and providing for safe travel on county roads.
The Record-Courier contributed to this report.
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