Warm weather, deep snow pushing river close to banks

Wednesday, May 14, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

"With warm weather expected to persist through the weekend and plenty of snow left to melt on the Upper Walker Basin, these high stages are expected to continue for the next several days," National Weather Service hydrologist Gary Barbato said on Wednesday.

"So far, only very minor localized flooding has been observed in this area. The river is expected to crest slightly higher by this weekend, but still just slightly above flood stage," he added.

The river reached 5.4 feet early Wednesday near Coleville, Calif. That's barely one inch below flood stage, far below the record 10.1 feet reached at the height of this year's flooding Jan. 2.

Barbato said the river was not expected to climb higher than 4 inches above flood stage between now and Tuesday with the peak levels in the late night and early morning hours.

The towns of Walker, Coleville and Topaz lie along the affected portion of the river, Barbato said.

No flooding is expected on the West Walker below Topaz Dam, on the East Walker or the main Walker River. All were severely affected by January's destructive flooding.

Although little snowpack remains below about 8,000 feet in the Walker runoff, average snowpack for this time of year remains above 8,500 feet.

The basin received 1 1/2 times its average snowfall this winter and still had 118 percent of its normal May 1 base two weeks ago. Runoff from the remaining snowpack is expected to decrease within the next week, Barbato said.

In the meantime, he said campers, fishermen, rafters and others near the West Walker should be wary of high, fast flowing and extremely cold water.