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Warm temperatures bring hazards to residents in Walker River watershed

Page Last Updated: Monday June 7, 2010 7:49pm PDT

The roar of spring came to Coleville over the weekend. Residents saw the Walker River's flow climb from 1,400 cubic feet per second to 3,800 cubic feet.

"We have water everywhere, debris everywhere," said rancher Dwaine Chichester. With the water comes a full time job for him. He digs in the brown deluge in front of a diversion, "Something big down there."

He pulls out a big chunk of wood. Five houses and his 500 cattle are counting on him to keep the diversion clear. If it overflows it could break and send a flood of water into the higher elevations.

For now he says about 50 acres of his 300 acres is flooded and a few of his cattle are walking through flood waters, meaning he will have to deal with hoof rot down the road. Another problem he says is that it will be August before he can get debris cleared out of the river channel because of all the California permitting that is required. On the good side, flood waters bring nutrients to his alfalfa crops.

The county dropped off sand bags to help prevent flooding, but then the weather service dropped its flood warning for the area. That means the rush of water isn't expected to continue to climb. But there's another problem.

"Oh its fast. really fast," said another rancher Terry Walker. He says that over the weekend rafters were caught off guard and had to be rescued. Getting in water like that isn't something he would do: "Oh no. You could get hurt, end up in Topaz Lake."

Reno Fire is warning that people should stay on paths and not get close to the banks. Children shouldn't be allowed near the banks either. If you see someone fall in the river, don't try to help, just call 911. You wouldn't want to fall victim too.

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