RENO, Nev. (AP) - Emergency managers and weather forecasters canceled a flood watch south of Reno on Tuesday after crews made critical repairs to a small, century-and-a-half-old earthen dam that was leaking and raising concerns about potential failure.
“Mitigation efforts have reduced the hazard of a potential breach in the dam at Little Washoe Lake,” the National Weather Service said Tuesday.
Nevada Dam Safety manager Eddy Quaglieri confirmed there’s no longer any immediate concern about the dam’s structural integrity.
Crews filled a hole with dirt and rocks and fortified the structure built in 1863 with boulders. New concrete will be added once the section of the structure that was leaking dries out. No rain is in the forecast into next week.
Washoe County Emergency Management officials issued a flood warning Monday and told area residents to be prepared to evacuate after a fisherman reported seepage earlier in the day at the dam between Reno and Carson City.
State officials said as many as 100 residents along Steamboat Creek and Steamboat Ditch could have been affected in the high desert area along U.S. Highway 395.
But the warning was downgraded to a watch Monday night and the flood watch expired at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
“There was a seep coming through. It wasn’t moving a lot of material out, but we were concerned about its structural integrity,” Quaglieri said.
The privately owned dam was retrofitted in 2012 and most recently was inspected last August, when no problems were detected, he said.
Officials said if the dam had failed, it likely would have produced minor to moderate flood conditions similar to levels reached in January and February 2017.
“About 100 residents would see some level of water on their property if it got to the level of February 2017,” Quaglieri said. “There are some low bridge crossings in the area, so we were worried about those.”
“But we feel a lot better about the amount of water coming out of this. It has decreased significantly,” he said. “They are still monitoring the situation so it is not over yet. But (residents) can relax for the moment. There’s no immediate threat of failure.”
Louis G. Damonte Jr., director of the company that owns and operates the dam, said he and others rallied workers to the site Monday as soon as they learned of the problem.
“We don’t know what caused this,” Damonte told the Reno Gazette Journal. “What is important to note on our part is the protocol and how fast we were able to move equipment in here.”
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