Flood Danger Very High on Carson Below Lahontan Dam

Thursday, March 7, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Below Lahontan Dam, it's very high. Above the reservoir through Gardnerville to Carson City, it's high, a forecaster said on Wednesday.

Hydrologist Gary Barbato said the mountain snowpack is 125 percent of average, soils are saturated and water has to be released from the reservoir to prevent serious flooding when the real runoff begins this spring.

Barbato said the degree of flooding will depend largely on weather conditions over the next several weeks. As of Wednesday, he said no flood-producing weather patterns were apparent with the forecast calling for clear skies and highs in the 50s.

"Cool weather during much of the runoff season would spread runoff over a longer period, yielding lower flood crests," he said.

"The worst case scenario would be to have many days of very warm weather in the 80s and 90s in the valleys or heavy rain with high snow levels. This could possibly result in disastrous flooding because of sharp flood crests."

Lake Lahontan storage is at its natural capacity of 290,000 acre-feet, with 26,000 acre-feet to go before the reservoir reaches the maximum capacity provided by a temporary plywood barrier erected at the end of last winter's wet runoff.

The Truckee-Carson Irrigation District has been authorized by the federal Bureau of Reclamation to keep the lake at its current level through this month with releases that could cause minor flooding by the end of the week in the Bafford Lane area just downriver from the dam, Barbato said.

Above the dam, Barbato said a lack of flood control along the Carson River makes high water a possibility in the Minden-Gardnerville-Genoa area.