The May 19, 2023, R-C Morning Report

Genoa, Nev. — It sounded like Douglas County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue was conducting swiftwater training of some sort on Thursday afternoon in Gardnerville. East Fork firefighters are watching the river pretty closely and will have the incident command open for the weekend’s high water.

The West Walker above Topaz Lake is under a flood warning near Coleville. The East Fork of the Carson River crested at 13.16 feet this morning, which is barely in the action stage. The forecast for the crest is down to 14.1 feet, or barely into minor flood stage on Monday morning.

The West Fork is back up to minor flood stage this morning with 13.79 feet at Woodfords. I don’t know what’s going on up in the mountains, but those crests are lower than they were on Wednesday.

Commission Chairman Mark Gardner threw out some rough figures for damage in Douglas County from the flooding on Thursday, including that there was $5 million in damage in the South County and $11 million countywide.

With the exception of $171,000 to rehabilitate the former Tahoe-Douglas Fire District’s Marine 24, county commissioners decided to issue an open call for requests for unspent federal relief money. There may be more than the $890,000 in a couple of months.

Barring the owner turning up and paying the taxes on a Granite Way property over the next 90 days, the Topaz Ranch Estates General Improvement District might have a site for shop, and maybe an office. There’s still work to do on the place, and they have to get the zoning changed.

There are around 10 properties left on the county’s list for next week’s tax sale. Should the owners of those properties step up and pay those taxes, then that would be the best outcome.

The forecast says there’s a slight chance of showers between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. before it becomes a slight chance of thunderstorms. Otherwise, anticipate mostly sunny skies with a high near 87 degrees and the wind 5-15 mph shifting to the west before lunch.

Kurt Hildebrand is editor of The Record-Courier. Contact him at khildebrand@recordcourier.com or 775-782-5122.