A winter wonderland

This past winter, the Battle-Born State was faced with the battle of a lifetime. While most of the country was ringing in the New Year, Nevada was hit with the first of a series of storms that would be the worst the state has seen in over a century. Heavy snowfall, up to 20 ft in the Lake Tahoe area, and gusting winds of over 100 mph created unbearable driving conditions and presented the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) with the most difficult challenge it has ever had to face.

Snow days

When most people think of Nevada, they think of the warm sun and hot desert air. The state averages more than 300 days of sunshine a year, and is, according to the National Weather Service, the third sunniest state in the country behind Arizona and California.

However, the word Nevada is Spanish, meaning “snow-capped,” and serves as a constant reminder that the state can and does get hit with treacherous winter storms.

“It was quite a storm, the biggest in 100 years,” said Thor Dyson, NDOT district engineer. “Those series of storms literally dropped us to our knees.” The first of the large storms moved through the western region of Nevada over New Year’s and dumped only a few feet of snow on the area. “We got blasted on the first set of storms and then we actually had a three-day low,” Dyson recalled. “But the weather service and all the forecasters were saying ‘get ready because this next one coming is going to be bigger.’”

During that three-day low, NDOT crews were scrambling to clear snow from the first storm and bracing themselves for what was on the way. “It was very serious, hardly anyone was joking,” said Dyson. “We knew the mother of all storms was coming.”

Storm of the century

Sure enough, Jan. 7 through the 10 the state of Nevada was pummeled by the largest winter storm the region has seen in over a century.

Dyson is the district engineer for District 2, the Reno area, where up to 7 ft of snow fell throughout the series of storms. The Sierra Nevada region in the western portion of the state was hit the heaviest by the storms, which created several problems in the valleys.

“Very powerful storms hit us at the valley floor level, which is not normally the case,” said Dyson. “It really set some challenges for us.”

NDOT crews faced the constant struggle of keeping the roads clear and finding the space to put the snow. “Where we could, we would just push it off to the side of the road,” said Dyson. “If we couldn’t do that, we pushed it to the center.” After the set of snowstorms were through, NDOT crews, along with hired contractors, came in at night with dump trucks, removed the snow from the middle of the roads and hauled it off.

With several feet of snow and winds blowing over 100 mph, snowdrifts became a serious problem, especially in Washoe Valley. Many people were caught in drifts and stranded in their cars overnight.

“We had 30 to 50 people stranded in the middle of Washoe Valley,” said Ron Millim, highway maintenance supervisor for District 2. “We went the next day to try to pull everybody out.”

Using reversible snowplows, Millim’s crew of 11 men was able to cut a hole in the snow and then tie chains onto the cars and pull them out. In some cases, they were able to simply push the cars out. Millim said the National Guard was called in to help with the effort, however, by the time they arrived NDOT already had everybody out and moving.

Trying times

Being hit with a series of strong storms that brought heavy snowfall and powerful winds created several challenges for NDOT employees. “We lost several roads due to visibility and the sheer amount of snow,” said Dyson.

The longest any road was closed was Mt. Rose Hwy., which was closed for 27 hours. Washoe Valley U.S. 395, a major roadway between Carson City and Reno, also was closed for over six hours. “We had a lot of challenges there,” said Dyson. “People had abandoned their vehicles and they were completely buried by the snow. So we had to find those.”

In addition to maintaining clean roads, it was a challenge just to keep the equipment up and running. According to Dyson, their equipment division, shop personnel and mechanics were the unsung heroes that held everything together. “We were working 24 hours a day, seven days a week for an excess of three to four weeks,” said Dyson. “Some vehicles never even stopped,” he continued, “some of our snow plows just ran the whole time.”

With plows running around the clock, NDOT soon realized that they didn’t have enough drivers to man the vehicles. “We went to the NDOT headquarters building and anybody who had a heartbeat and a CDL Class-A license that volunteered, we put them in the truck,” Dyson said.

Even after the storms had ended, NDOT crews were still in high gear, working overtime for weeks to come. Crews spent an incredible amount of time re-striping all of the roads because the storms and the sand had worn off all of the paint on the highways. Street signs were damaged and had to be replaced, and equipment had to be repaired and ready in case of more storms. Roofs on houses and buildings also were collapsing all over the area.

With so much snow cover on the ground, the weeks after brought dense fog, especially in the valley. “Freezing fog and freezing rain would hit the road and mist up,” said Dyson. This lead to visibility problems and black ice; because of the cold, the roads would freeze. “Those things caused quite a few accidents,” said Dyson. On the up side, all of the additional snow and moisture helped with the drought situation that western Nevada has been experiencing for several years. “We’ve been in a drought situation for about three to five years,” said Dyson, “and it certainly made a dent.” According to Dyson, from a drought standpoint, the snows helped the region.

Rising waters

While the storms weren’t as powerful in southeastern Nevada, towns such as Overton, Caliente, Logandale and Mesquite were faced with a different problem—heavy flooding.

More than 20 miles of State Route 317, between Caliente and Elgin, was completely destroyed from flooding, while surrounding towns were under water. Michael Maylone, acting resident engineer, was sent down from Ely, Nev., to assess and repair the road.

“We led an emergency contract with Frehner Construction,” said Maylone. “We came up with a plan and we went in and used local materials, built up the fills and brought the road back up to the grade where it had been originally.” Several ranches are located near this stretch of SR 317, and nobody could get in or out of the area without this portion of the road.

“We used barrow to build it back up and then we put about 10 in. of gravel on top of that to give it finished grade so it could be paved later on,” said Maylone. The Union Pacific railroad worked with NDOT and donated 100 freight cars of riprap to help build up the travelway and stabilize the riverbank. A large portion of the railroad’s main line that runs through Caliente from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City was also destroyed in the flooding.

While the area was flooding, residents near Caliente were trapped in their towns for three to four days, only able to leave by helicopter.

In just over 30 days, Maylone and his crew were able to get 10 miles of the road back in working condition. “The next 10 miles [is] in real bad shape, the state hasn’t decided exactly what they’re going to do with it yet,” said Maylone. “The damage is significant, probably between 20 and 30 million dollars worth.”

Citizens of the area were grateful of the work that Maylone and his crew were able to do with the damaged portion of SR 317. Maylone and inspector Ted O’Donnel even received certificates of appreciation from NDOT for the work that they did.