Rodents Caused Nevada Canal Flood, Report Says

FERNLEY, Nev.  — Burrowing rodents caused a century-old irrigation canal to fail and flood a rural Nevada town in January, a team of scientific experts concluded in a report for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation made public Thursday night.

Muskrats, beavers, gophers and other rodents dug holes as deep as 25 feet into the earthen canal embankment over the years, according to the report.

Water burst through a 50-foot breach in the weakened structure at 4 a.m. on Jan. 5 and flooded hundreds of homes in Fernley, a community of about 20,000 residents about 30 miles east of Reno. As many as 600 homes were damaged by floodwater, which reached 8 feet deep in some places, and the area was declared a federal and state disaster area.

"They believe it was the rodent critters that caused the break of the canal," Jeffrey McCracken, public affairs director of the bureau's Mid-Pacific Region in Sacramento, told The Associated Press.

The bureau owns the 31-mile canal that takes water from the Truckee River south to Fallon-area farmers.

Source: Associated Press