Reno Garden Center Hit Hard by Heavy Rainstorm

NEVADA – After Monday’s big downpour flooded their shop, employees of a south Reno garden center spent Tuesday inspecting the damage and beginning to clean up the mess.

The rain prompted a neighboring ditch to overflow, bringing a torrent of water over Toll Road and onto the 5-acre property of Old Stone House Gift & Garden.

Several greenhouses were flooded, with countless potted plants submerged in several inches of water. Despite the mudslide, longstanding owner Stephen Giossi acknowledged it could have been worse.

“We actually fared fairly well. There was a lot of sediment in our greenhouses, perhaps $10,000 worth of gravel swept away, and a lot of debris in my parking lot, but it was mostly calm “Giossi stated.

Giossi stated that because his business is in a floodplain, Old Stone House Gift & Garden will have to pay for repairs out of pocket.

He desired officials would properly maintain the ditch so that future flooding situations like this might be averted.

“The RTC and some other people who own the property here, they need to clear out these ditches on a regular basis because it just makes a dam and then it goes wherever it wants to go,” he said.

RTC authorities said in a statement that they are investigating the flooding and that the crossroads and businesses are in a floodplain:

The RTC is investigating the ponding at Toll Road and Geiger Grade with our regional colleagues. This crossroads and the businesses close are in a statutory floodway. The RTC owns unoccupied lots near this location and encourages residents to report any possible problems with these parcels to the RTC immediately. Furthermore, anyone who witnesses flooding is asked to notify their local authorities.
Tuesday morning, crews were out cleaning debris from the ditch.

Credits: Fox Reno