Public works and street crews were out in full force on Wednesday preparing for possible heavy rains.
We caught up with Washoe County crews focusing on the Spanish Springs and Sun Valley areas. They went over areas prone to flooding to make sure drains were cleaned up before the storm. They were clearing out everything from large items like mattresses to smaller trash pieces. "Picking up any kind of debris that may be in the ditch that could potentially block any culvert pipes or whatever and cause flooding,” said Steve Thomsen with Washoe County.
From the outskirts to downtown, crews in Reno were also busy paying extra attention to areas that have flooded easily in the past. We talked with the City of Reno's Maintenance and Operations Managers for Public Works, Street Section to get more information. "We will go to low lying areas, the problematic areas first and start inspecting those before the impending storm,” said Marnell Heinz.
More than 9,000 drains are checked and cleaned twice a year with extra inspections done in areas like spots near 4th and Stoker, which has flooded before. "We have a large amount of precipitation that comes off I-80 and then a large amount of precipitation comes off of Kings Row,” said Heinz.
Meteorologists with the National Weather Service say a weather balloon launch indicated we could see a lot of moisture out of this storm. "If those storms develop, they will produce pretty heavy rains. The moisture values over us right now are some of the highest we've measured in June since the Weather Service has been here,” said Chris Smallcomb.
The question is where exactly all that precipitation will fall. “It's tough to predict exactly where these storms would develop this afternoon, so it's just good to be weather aware today,” said Smallcomb.
Since there was high moisture content measured in the atmosphere, the City of Reno already has sandbags stocked. "On site, we have over 750,000 sandbags to be filled and we probably have 200 or 300 onsite that are ready,” said Marnell Heinz.
You can get sandbags from Reno Direct and sign up for regional emergency alerts with Washoe County Code Red.
