Elko Daily Free Press from Elko, Nevada • 1

AO M09 OW I Bit Hicrof'' if I Pi xii5 AVfc AM500 i VoLU4 No. 1 Established Jan. 5, 1883 ELKO, ELKO COUNTY. NEVADA 50 CENTS THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1997 13 Ptjss rack IKivn fcfedliiM Ram, melting snow pushing rivers out of their hanlss across the West RENO (AP) The Truckee River raged through the streets of downtown Reno today, flooding scores of businesses and threatening the city's biggest casinos. The river flooded motels, restaurants and wedding chapels as it came pouring over its banks.

It raced down city streets with up to four feet of water and white caps, and created massive lakes in some parts of downtown. "This seems like a bad dream," said Alberto Gazzola as flood waters began entering his La Vecchia Var-ese restaurant "Fifteen or 20 other reported. "I flew over it by helicopter and 111 tell you that the damage will be substantial" Washoe County Sheriff Dick Kirkland said. "Ml be in the millions of dollars before it's over." Gov. Bob Miller declared a state of emergency in four northwest Nevada counties and to shut down state government offices today in Reno and Carson City.

Dozens of local business owners also told employees not to report to work Thursday because of flooding. Up to seven inches of rain yesterday in the Tahoe area sent the businesses are flooded next to me Ail we can do is watch." Hundreds of employees and volun- teen piled sandbags in front of the Cal Neva, Hampton Inn and Corn-stock as flood waters crept within 50 feet of the resorts. Most casinos shut down after the worst flooding in the downtown in more than 40 years. Authorities were uncertain of the number of buildings and homes flooded, but there were widespread reports of flooding along the entire 90-mile course of the Truckee River between Lake Tahoe and its end at Pyramid Lake. No injuries were Truckee over its banks and triggered mudslides that closed at least four highways in the Reno-Tahoe area.

National Weather Service hydrolo-gist Gary Barbato said the Truckee was expected to crest at 15 feet above flood stage in Reno. By early today, the Truckee had spread up to a city block away from its banks in downtown Reno. Barbato said he expects the worst flooding on the Truckee since 1955, when a flood caused millions of dollars in property damage. Hundreds of residents were evacuated. til -J iLrL (J7 i i '4 V- -M I I 1 i 0 -i3r Mi "We're all packed and ready to go if anything happens," said Mary Parke, manager of the Truckee River Mobile Home Park in Lockwood, located east of Reno.

"It's all in God's hands." Most streets in downtown Reno were closed after the Truckee began pouring over several bridges. National Guard and inmate crews helped place sandbags around downtown casinos and businesses. Elsewhere in Nevada, mudslides forced the closure of VS. Highway 395 south of Reno and U.S. Highway 50 near Glenbrook.

Flooding closed numerous roads near Minden in the Carson Valley. A flood warning also was issued througrf-Thursday on the Carson River, where Gardnerville could face major flooding, Barbato said. "Right now, the major concern is the Truckee," he said. "We have our work cut out for us." The latest rain melted much of a heavy snowpack left after last week's ferocious storm dumped more than 8 feet of snow in the Tahoe area. "There were some areas near Truckee that had up to 74 inches of snow on the ground after that storm and now they have no snow Barbato said.

Severe flooding also was reported in the Sierra Nevada. In California, at least several houses were flooded along the Truckee between the towns of Truckee and Tahoe City, said Nevada County sheriffs deputy Steve Stanovich. "Some of the houses along the Truckee have two to four feet of water inside them," he said. "There's water going through a living room" in Truckee. Heavy rains also triggered mudslides that closed Interstate 80 near the California line and Highway 89 between Truckee and Tahoe City.

Another mudslide closed the Union Pacific railroad tracks east of Truckee. A woman was rescued after the raging Yuba River surrounded her Hampshire Rocks house west of Truckee and flooded it Authorities said they found a piano floating in the house. Rain and melting snow pushed rivers out of their banks across the West today, forcing hundreds of peo- pje from their homes and stranding 2,500 in Yosemite National Park. Tourists were holed up in lodges after the swollen Merced River shut ending a four-month search of the Late Mead area where the victim drowned. The body of Leonard Joseph Dayton, 45, was found in 220 feet of water on Tuesday.

The body was found by marine salvage specialist Bud Cleland of Las Vegas, who was hired by the victim's wife after the National Park Service was unable to recover the body. Cleland said he had determined Tuesday would be the last day of his long and frustrating search. He had been hired by Jean Dayton, who feared that her husband's body would never be found. Leonard Dayton disappeared Aug. 10 while scuba diving.

down the park and its three major roads. "It is still raining heavily" said Chet Brooks, a Yosemite Concession Services spokesman. "Everyone is safe and warm and dry as they can be. There's plenty of food and no one is in danger. They're taking it in stride." The rain, floods and mudslides moved inland after battering mostly coastal areas for more than a week, causing at least 14 deaths and hundreds of millions of dollars of dam-, age in five states.

More than 40 counties in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Nevada have been declared disaster areas. Three climbers were missing today on Mount Shasta in northeastern California, and three hikers were missing near Stevens Pass in Washington. The Payette and Weiser rivers in western Idaho were out of their banks, sending hundreds of people from their homes. Several communities were cut off today after rivers washed out hundreds of feet of highway. In tiny Pinehurst, the Idaho National Guard used helicopters to airlift 100 residents to safety in nearby Riggins, itself cut off by the surging Little Salmon River.

In Napa, the heart of California's wine country, residents watched the Napa River rise to 4 feet above flood level, but only minor damage was reported and the river receded 6 feet today. Near Guerneville, about 70 miles north of San Francisco, the muddy Russian River rose Wednesday evening to nearly 45 feet, 13 feet above flood stage. As it churned past town, it carried tree limbs, old tires, shopping carts, a beer keg and bobbing propane tanks. "I'm losing it all," Ron Jones murmured as he watched the river engulf his home. "It's like we're standing here on a cruise ship," Maureen Weinstein said, watching the surging water just beneath her feet on the Guerneville Bridge.

Farther north, rain and melting snow filled rivers and caused dangerous mudslides in Washington and Oregon, where 40,000 West customers were without longdistance telephone service. Rivers in western Oregon started to recede, but Lost Creek and Applegate dams in the southern part of the state were so full that water releases were boosted. "This is certainly the largest flood to hit this area since those dams were completed," said Dick Cassidy, chief of water regulation for the corps in Portland. In Grants Pass, Bill Long had a couple of feet of water in the basement of his home, which sits at the edge of the Rogue River. "It's a mess," he said.

"Sandbags don't help when the river comes up this high." An additional 25 homes were evacuated in Seattle's Magnolia Bluff, hard-hit by mudslides, a day after 18 homes and a downtown apartment building were evacuated. A gas station in the city's suburbs collapsed into a sinkhole. In Gleed, more than 100 residents were evacuated when a warehouse collapsed under heavy snow, releasing a cloud of ammonia. No one was hurt More rain was expected in central and eastern Washington and Idaho into the weekend. "It's bad and it's getting worse," said Kayla Hurd, who lives near Latah Creek southwest of Spokane.

(AiMciit pm, pko) closed today as floodwaters extended a block on each side of the river. Reno scrambled yesterday to remove parking meters and bridge railings as the Truckee River jumped its banks and began lap-ping at the bridges. Most downtown streets and casinos were Nevada news summary: Lax pirfeon loses appeal County Jail for investigation of murder. The victim, Lawrence Raymond Mills, 51, was found dead Tuesday in his office at the East 8th Street apartment complex. He apparently died as a result of blunt force trauma to his head, officers said.

Police said the murder stemmed from an argument over rent and the suspect confessed to the crime. The suspect was arrested after investigators learned the last entry on Mill's computer concerned the suspect's unpaid rent Body recovered LAS VEGAS (AP) A diver has found the body of a Las Vegas man, CARSON CITY (AP) A state hearing officer has upheld the firing of a tower guard who failed to spot an inmate who took more than an hour to cut through or burrow under three fences in fleeing from the Southern Desert Correctional Center at Indian Springs. Hearing officer John Graves wondered if Correctional Officer Charles Mathis may have been asleep in the tower when inmate Janco Gasic made his ftape. He said Mathis was guilty of gross negligence. Graves said the evidence showed the inmate in broad daylight, wearing prison clothes, made it over one 4-foot fence, used a hacksaw blade to cut through a 12-foot fence and then Local mud slides gnaaFdl tion experts, one portion of the hotel's south tower remained standing.

A crane with a wrecking ball was called in Wednesday afternoon to finish the job. Thousands of people gathered to watch the wrecking ball deal the final blow, Harney said. Some 500,000 people gathered on the Strip Tuesday night to welcome in the New Year, nearly double last year's record, Harney said. Reno murder arrest RENO (AP) A Reno man has been arrested in connection with the death of his apartment manager. Lawrence Joseph Pepito, 47, was booked Wednesday into the Washoe reported Forecaster Ed Clark said.

The Humboldt River is only two feet deep at Palisade, well below the flood level of six feet Clark said. The Nevada Department of Transportation reported no roads closed due to flooding or high water. Pete Gill at Wildhorse Reservoir State Park said some of the rain was changing to snow this morning. The weather service forecasts a high of 42 degrees there today and a low tonight at freezing. Tomorrow the mercury should rise to 37 degrees at Wildhorse, 40 to 41 degrees elsewhere in the valleys of northeastern Nevada.

In the December weather summary, the highest temperature recorded last month was the 51 degree mark reached on the last day. Elko has yet to drop below zero the coldest temperature last month was a two degree reading on Dec. 4 and again on Christmas Eve. The mean temperature was 28.5 degrees, 2.8 degrees warmer than normal. There were 16 days last month when some precipitation was recorded, on 10 of those days more than .10 inch was received.

For the entire calendar year of 1996, the weather service recorded 15.24 inches of precipitation, a third more than the norm of 9.93 inches. dug under another 10-foot fence to freedom. Later, Gasic was caught burglarizing a Las Vegas home. Hacienda demolition LAS VEGAS (AP) The spectacular implosion was watched around the world, but it took a wrecking ball to deal the final blow to the Hacienda Hotel. Tuesday night's implosion was witnessed by an estimated 200,000 people who gathered at the site on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip, according to Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman Steve Harney.

Additional millions watched the implosion carried live on television. But despite the efforts of demoli pitation that usually falls in January. The ground is already soggy from inches of precipitation that fell during December, two inches more than normal, but less than the record of 4.2 inches. The wet December was due to heavy snowfall of 27.7 inches, which neared the record 33.2 inches set in 1983. The high temperature of 53 degrees recorded in Elko yesterday tied a record set in 1943.

The low temperature of only 44 degrees kept revelers warm on New Year's Eve. That overnight low was 9 degrees warmer than the normal high temperature of 35. The normal low for this time of year is 12 degrees. High wind gusts ripped a roof off a hut used as a storage shed at Stockman's Supply, 2091 Last Chance Road, yesterday morning. Owner Steve Smith estimated the damage at $15,000 from the roof and water damage to the feed stored inside.

"Happy New Year, a hell of a way to start it I hope I got all the bad luck out of the way for 1997," Smith said. Wind of 33 mph was recorded at the airport at 6:50 p.m. yesterday and a report was received of a 59 mph wind gust in Spring Creek. The National Weather Service reported a peak wind gust of 43 mph yesterday, 1 Wet weather continued into the New Year and, combined with un- usually warna temperatures, created some mud slidfesjin Elko County, Sheriff Neil Hams said today. A mud slide blocked the road up Lamoille Canyon near the Glacier Overlook, Harris said.

Another mud slide has been reported near Jar-bidge on the road from Murphy's Hot Springs, he said. No injuries or damage have been reported from either one. Harris said the National Weather Service in Reno reported more than an inch of rain is likely in this area. Tho' nnspaonnahlv warm temoera- means rain will be railing on Uti mountains and causing signific-anNunoff, he said. "There could be some minor flooding at the lower levels," he said, advising motorists to be careftil in areas where water is flowing over roads.

There has already Deen mgn waier in the Lamoille area and some minor flooding, Harris said. We want people to be careful. The creeks will be running high," he said. The National Weather Service reported 3 6f an inch of rain fell at Elko airport this morning. That's almost a third of the .98 inch of preci- 1 (ltd McBrM pkatot Wind wrecked a storage shed a Stockman's Supply yesterday morning and caused thousands of dollars in damages..