County braces for another January 1997 deluge

Sunday, Sept. 26, 1999 | 3:08 a.m.

But officials believe the Carson Valley now is more prepared for such disasters than any other time in recent memory.

"The river's in better shape than its ever been in modern times," said Dick Mirgon, chief of emergency services for Douglas County.

For the first time since an angry Carson River swelled over its banks on New Year's Day 1997, the rainy season approaches with all important preparations completed.

It took nearly three years, but the riverbanks, levees and irrigation systems damaged by floodwaters are all finally repaired.

In Douglas County alone, roughly $2.5 million in federal, state, local and private money was spent to repair the river system, with similar outlays both upstream and downstream.

Riverbed gouged by raging water has been restored, as have riverbanks stripped and savaged by water.

Efforts during the period since the flood have been different from work done in the past, Mirgon said. "In the past, we fixed the river patchwork," he said. The result was that repairs made along one stretch of the river impacted other areas downstream.

This time, attention was paid to the entire river where it flowed through Carson Valley. "It's really almost like a living being. You need to treat the whole system," Mirgon said. "We've taken into account that it is one, whole river."

Should a flood the scope of January 1997 hit again - and one will someday - damage is inevitable. But Mirgon and others are confident the recent work will make a difference.

"When the water subsides, a lot of the work we've done will still be in place, and a lot of the places that flooded then would not flood again," he said.