River crests above flood stage Saturday in Carson Valley

The day began with eerily similar shades of the 1997 New Year's flood, but the threat subsided by early afternoon Saturday in Carson Valley.

Earlier Saturday morning, the water topped at 1.4 feet above the 9.5-foot flood stage along the Carson River, but dropped back down to 0.48 feet over by 1:15 p.m, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The storm pelted the Valley with about half the impact of the '97 flood as flows topped out at about 9,000 cubic feet per second. The discharge in 1997 was measured at 20,000 c.f.s.

By late afternoon Saturday, the flow had slowed to 7,570 c.f.s. and the storm clouds broke.

Tom Brooks, owner of Carson Valley Golf Course, said the impact of this flood was far less than what the course suffered eight years ago.

"We had a long morning of course, but we're really happy with how things turned out," Brooks said. "We've seen the river decrease by more than three feet already today, so we think we're on our way out of this."

Water flooded four holes on the course, but Brooks said a project the course embarked on four years ago lessened the damage substantially.

"We teamed up with Project Impact (a public-private partnership geared toward making communities more resistant to the effects of natural disasters) and did some matching with our funds, in order to help protect the bridge on Riverview Drive," Brooks said. "That created a spillway along holes six through nine and that has been working exceptionally well today.

"We were a little surprised this morning that the water had gotten that high - we had water all over four holes on the course, but the damage will be minimal. It'll take just a few days to clean up.

"Things look really good. As long as we keep learning from the river and give it room to do what it has to do, we'll be fine. This is where we live, so we just need to keep being prepared."

Genoa and the Foothill area were hit hardest by the storm as most of the area was isolated throughout the day.

About 6:15 p.m. a car carrying a couple in their early 70s stalled in deep water on Genoa Lake Drive. Rescue personal drove in a large brush truck to carry them to dry land.

Muller and Genoa lanes were completely washed over.

The East Fork of the Carson River tipped the banks and spilled over onto pasture land near Lampe Park.

Waterloo Lane in front of the park was closed throughout the day.

Evacuation at Aspen Mobile Home Park off Centerville Lane was voluntary through 2 p.m., although floodwaters raged about 100 yards from the rear of the neighborhood.

Highway 88 closed between Centerville Lane and Kimmerling Road at about 12:30 p.m.

The Valley also battled with intermittent power and communication outages throughout the day due to high winds in the area.