It was January 5, 2008 when a levee broke on the Truckee Canal in Fernley. The breach sent water pouring into a nearby neighborhood on the east side of town in the early hours of the morning, affecting approximately 580 homes. Scott Brown's house was one of them. He says his house had two feet of water inside, but other homes had water above the garage door. The flood displaced hundreds of people.
"Pandemonium, it was just chaos," Brown said. "They had the street blocked off and nobody knew what was going on and when it was going to stop."
Brown had to move out of his house for nearly three months while he made $47,000 of home repairs. The water destroyed a variety of items inside his house.
"Carpets, beds, couches, all of that had to be thrown away, and in the house we had to tear out four feet down," Brown said.
Brown says the cost was eventually reimbursed, thanks to FEMA and other funding sources. The U.S. Navy and Lyon County Sheriff's Office helped with evacuation efforts, getting residents to dry areas. Darrell Norman was a captain with Lyon County Search and Rescue. He says he used a six-wheel amphibious vehicle to get people out of the flood zone.
"We drove all over heck, checking everybody out and making sure everybody was okay and if they needed to be taken out of there, we could take them out, too," Norman said.
"I was going to a friend's house and they had boats to bring stuff out," Â Mayor Roy Edgington, City of Fernley said. "I mean, it was just unreal."
Some residents moved out of their homes, due to the extensive water damage. Others rebuilt over the coming months.
"It still takes time to rebuild," Edgington said. "A lot of people lost a lot of stuff, and things you can't replace. You know, mementos, albums, things like that."
The Truckee Canal diverts water from the Truckee River to the Lahontan Reservoir for farm irrigation. The Truckee-Carson Irrigation District operates the canal, and agreed to an $18.1 million settlement, after flood-impacted residents sued the TCID for negligence.
"Everybody just paid off and let it go away but nobody's corrected the problems that are there," Brown said.
Edgington says there have been a lot of improvements in the 10 years since the flood. He says there are higher building standards that require any new homes to be built above street level. He says Fernley is also working with Lyon County, TCID, and the Bureau of Reclamation to make sure a similar situation does not happen. He says TCID operates the canal differently now, adding enhancements and keeping flows lower.
"The fact that they are upgrading it and they have put new stuff into it and what have you, and we're constantly doing that, so I think things have changed," Edgington said. "We learned. Like anything, it's a learning process."
