West Carson River flooding at Woodfords

With last night's rainfall combining with snowmelt runoff to swell the Carson River, the National Weather Service has issued a flood warning for the West Fork of the Carson River.

The weather service is forecasting minor floods on the Carson River's west fork, at Woodfords near Markleeville. At 8 a.m. Monday, the river was about an inch under flood level at Woodfords and was expected to barely reach the flood stage before falling beneath the level by Tuesday morning. Flooding occurs at 14 feet.

A large rise in the water level of the main Carson River stream and its east fork is also forecast, although there is no flooding there now and none is expected.

A large rise without flooding is also forecast for the west Walker River.

For today expect a 70 percent chance of rain with west winds gusting to 33 mph.

For the Carson River at Carson City, a river level of 10 feet is considered flood stage. At 8 a.m., the river was at 5.5 feet and a maximum height of 8 feet is forecast for early Tuesday.

At 8 feet, overbank flows begin in the lowest areas. This crest compares to a previous crest of 8 feet on Jan. 28, 1942.

Near Gardnerville, the east fork of the Carson River was about eight inches below flood level at 9 a.m. Monday and was expected to rise another two inches before receding late in the day. Flood prone areas on the east fork include the Washoe Indian reservation, Glennwood Drive, Carson Valley Country Club, Westwood Village, Riverview Drive, Highway 88, Centerville Road, Rocky Slough, Mottsville Lane and Waterloo Lane.