Disaster relief may become available

Friday, Aug. 15, 1997 | 9:36 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A state team started an inspection today of the damage from the flash floods in Henderson and Boulder City and will recommend whether Gov. Bob Miller should declare it a disaster area.

The report will be ready for the governor when he returns this weekend from vacation.

Henderson and Boulder City have requested a disaster declaration from the governor.

Estimates from local governments put the damage at $6 million.

The state team is headed by Frank Siracusa, director of the state Division of Emergency Planning.

Henderson and Boulder City are looking for federal aid but could be the first ones to tap into a new law that sets up a state disaster fund of $4 million.

The money could be used to repair roads, bridges, dams, public buildings, utilities, parks or other public property. The disaster relief fund is under the Interim Finance Committee, which can either lend or outright give the money to the local governments.

The bill was drafted after the massive flooding in Northern Nevada in January, where the damage reached hundreds of millions of dollars.

Others on the team will be Tom Manning, a deputy from the division of emergency planning; John Eiche, an engineer from the Nevada Department of Transportation; Naomi Duerr, head of the state Water Planning Division and Andy Asgarian of the state Health Protection Service.

There will be two federal employees from the Disaster Field Office, which has continued in Reno during clean-up of the floods in Northern Nevada. They are Ron Albrecht and Jim Calacal, who will be able to advise private citizens and businesses how they can get help

Parts of Clark County were hit by 2.5 inches of rain falling in a single hour and winds gusting up to 80 mph. Golfball-sized hail hit some areas.