Contributed by: filbert Saturday, January 05 2008 @ 12:53 PM CST
Kansas City Star: Levee breaks in Nevada, 3,500 stranded[*1]
A canal levee ruptured early Saturday after heavy rainfall, pouring more than 3 feet of near-freezing water into about 800 homes and stranding about 3,500 people in their agricultural desert town, authorities said.
A 30-foot-long section of the Truckee Canal broke around 4 a.m. in Fernley, about 33 miles east of Reno, officials 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.
The area had gotten snow plus heavy rain on Friday as a storm pummeled the West Coast, raising a threat of mud slides and flooding in California, blacking out thousands of customers and blanketing the Sierra Nevada range with deep snow.