I can’t argue with my hit count - the Fernley Flood is a popular search, so the least I can do is keep the information flow going. In that vein…

How is it that, every time the federal government gets involved in something, it finds a new and creative way to screw it up? Take the aftermath of the flood, for example. FEMA isn’t sure if they’ll provide aid or not. Meanwhile, somebody owned that levee, and that somebody was the Bureau of Land Management. Of course, in a classic case of bureaucratic chicanery, it’s not the BLM that manages the levee - it’s the Truckee Carson Irrigation District. This, of course, raises the fascinating question of how one maintains a mound of dirt in the first place.

It’s not all bad, though. Where the federal government is doing yet another bang-up job of finding new and creative ways to fail, local and volunteer agencies continue to do an outstanding job of picking up the pieces of people’s lives and helping the victims carry on. If you want to help, feel free to do so - some instructions can be found here. Alternatively, if you’re one of those walking back into your flooded home, you can find some tips here.

As for flood insurance in Nevada, and how that might seem somewhat oxymoronic, be sure to consider the geography of the land you live in. For those of you that haven’t looked at a topo map of the area, Nevada is made up of numerous small valleys. Most of them don’t have any drainage outside of the valleys, which means that, when appreciable precipitation does arrive (and it does, just not yearly), there’s only one place for it to go - the low point of that valley. Even in the parts of Nevada that do have drainage, such as those within the Truckee, Carson, or Humboldt River watersheds, Nevada’s drainage is limited by the nature of the Great Basin, which covers most of the state. Meanwhile, as if being in a giant bowl wasn’t enough, since Nevada’s a desert, the soil is very, very hard, and doesn’t absorb water well. So, let’s recap:

1. No drainage.
2. Even when there is drainage, it drains into an area that has no drainage.
3. Water isn’t absorbed by anything.

When you combine those ingredients with a non-trivial amount of water, the result is going to be… well… this:

And this:

And yes, even this:

Thing is, Nevada isn’t unique. Arizona floods, too. California, meanwhile, is borderline compulsive about getting everything worse than Nevada - floods, fires, earthquakes, you name it. I think it’s just a sad cry for attention, personally.

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