Fernley Flood Caused by Gophers….

FERNLEY, Nev. (AP) — A levee broke early Saturday, pouring more 3 feet of water into about 800 homes and trapping about 3,500 people, authorities said. A 30-foot section of the Truckee Canal broke at around 4 a.m., sending a wave of water rushing into the desert town on the eastern side of the Sierra, about 33 miles east of Reno, officials said.
The elementary school in this town of 21,000 also was flooded.
Residents were being taken by 10 school buses to other local schools, and bulldozers were brought in to shore up the levee, said Chuck Allen of the Nevada Department of Public Safety. The Fallon Naval Air Station provided three helicopters for any roof top rescues and local officials deployed boats as well, Allen said.
No injuries were reported.
Truckee River water flowing into the canal was diverted upstream and water in the canal was receding, said Ernie Schank, president of the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District.
Schank told KTVN-TV in Reno that repair work was starting immediately.
Rodent burrowing may have weakened the area of the earthen canal that broke, Schank said.
“Evidently it was a rat or a gopher hole. The canal did not overtop the bank,” he said.
The irrigation district has a bounty on gophers, said Kate Rutan, an administrative assistant at the district office.
“Gophers are terrible for making a hole… and once (water) finds a weak spot, it will go for it,” she said.
The break occurred in freezing temperatures and followed a storm that dumped 4 to 6 inches of snow in the area and heavy rain elsewhere.
“It was a mess up there last night,” Allen said. “It’s so cold here. The snow is about 2 inches in depth and the temperatures are right near the frigid mark both for the rescuers and rescuees.”
Resident Bill Sanchez told CNN that his street was flooded.
“Water to the edge of our driveway and rising quickly,” he said. “There’s some cars there, the water’s up to the doors.”
The canal is the main feeder from Truckee River. It runs through the river just east of Reno and runs over to the farming community of Fallon, about 60 miles away.
In December 1996, a rupture of an irrigation canal that is part of the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District surrounded about 60 Fernley homes with as much as 2 feet of water.
On Jan. 3, 1997, flooding from the Truckee River swamped motels, casinos and other businesses in Reno and left hundreds of homes uninhabitable.