Friday, Jan. 3, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
A man using a front-end loader to build up a berm to stop the Carson River from reaching a mobile home park was presumed drowned when his rig fell into the torrent Thursday.
The heavy loader that was being used by Frederick Pinard, 59, of Gardnerville, was found today - about two miles downstream.
Douglas County officials said the river crested at between 10 p.m. and midnight Thursday after flows as high as 23,000 cubic feet per second were registered at upstream monitoring points. The river was more than four feet above flood stage in the Carson Valley.
While the river was receding in the Carson Valley, flooding continued downstream in the Carson City area. Many businesses had to close down although flood damage to structures was less extensive, with the deepest flood waters mainly on farm land and a golf course close to the river.
Until the river began receding upstream in the Carson Valley, residents were isolated due to extensive road closures caused by flooding or mudslides. A shuttle system was used to bus several hundred people to a bridge considered unsafe for heavy vehicle traffic. They had to walk across and catch other buses that took them to homes in the Ranchos area in the southeast corner of the valley.
The valley, said Douglas County Undersheriff Ron Pierini, "looks like a huge lake that goes on forever. It's totally amazing to me."
"It's pretty much under water wherever you go," added sheriff's Sgt. Lance Modispacher.
Pierini, 45, grew up in the valley and said he had never seen anything like the New Years's flooding caused by several days of warm rain that melted heavy snow that had buried much of the area a few days before Christmas.
The Carson River flooding was similar to Truckee River flooding that put large areas of downtown Reno, 45 miles to the north, under water.
"It looks like the Truckee," said resident Tony Davies, whose home overlooks the Carson River and the mobile home park where the tractor driver was swept away. "But we've got whitecaps. It's very heavy and swollen."
At least 150 people had to be evacuated from homes, and 30 to 40 of the flooded homes were in an upscale area close to the Carson Valley Golf Course south of Gardnerville.
"This is the biggest problem area of flooding," said Dick Mirgon, county emergency management director. "It's just devastated in there."
Also flooded was the Genoa Lakes golf course near Genoa, several homes in the nearby Willowbend area, and a recreational vehicle park and ranch home near Cradlebaugh Bridge, at the valley's north end.
About 20 miles upstream, a 100-yard-long section of California State Route 89 collapsed along the east fork of the Carson, just south of Markleeville, Calif.
Also, a bridge to cabins at Sorenson's, on State Route 88 along the west fork of the Carson, was partially ripped out. Mud damage was reported in nearby Woodfords, Calif.
The last time the Carson Valley faced severe flooding was in 1986. "But this is substantially worse than '86," said Mirgon. He noted that in 1986, the water flow on the Carson River was figured at 12,600 cfs.
The 1955 flow was estimated at 17,600 cfs - until now, the highest on record.
Over the years, at least 17 major Carson River floods have occurred, including big floods in 1950, 1938, 1907, 1889-90, 1861-62 and 1853.
The 1861-62 flood was considered one of the worst - and was much like the current flood: It was preceded by heavy snow around Christmas and then three or four days of warm rains just after the New Year opened, according to historian Grace Dangberg's "Conflict on the Carson."
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