Water accumulating on Texas Street in South Lake Tahoe on Jan. 7. Photo/Susan Wood

Updated at 7:01pm:

By Kathryn Reed

An avalanche threat has been issued for parts of Incline Village.

“There are indications that an avalanche may occur in the Third Creek drainage and in the avalanche path adjacent to Third Creek to the south. Flowing debris from this anticipated avalanche(s) are expected to remain confined to the gullies and not affect homes or streets. However, the air blast — a cushion of air pushed ahead of the debris flow — from such an event could rattle windows and affect pedestrians and vehicles in the immediate areas of the avalanche paths,” Tia Rancort with North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District said in a statement on Jan. 7.

Trout Creek in South Lake Tahoe from Highway 50 on the afternoon of Jan. 7. Photo/Susan Wood

Residents on Apollo Way, Jennifer Street, Lunar Court and the Mercury Court neighborhood areas have been notified.

Liberty Utilities has called in additional line crews to deal with likely outages. The power company is asking customers to only contact them in the event of an emergency.

Water is ponding in places in the basin. Highway 89 in Meyers has some flooding, including at the bridge at Portal. Reports are that it is not draining and has more than a foot of water on it.

Linda Witters lived through the floods of 1997.

“Our Spring Creek became a torrent of water 100-feet wide and split its banks and went through three garages on the way to the river,” Witters told Lake Tahoe News. “Water will take the path of least resistance every time. The streets will be rivers and driveways will allow the water to go right through garages, houses, etc. Conditions beings as they are with the density of the snow, I expect this flooding to be worse if we get the predicted amounts of rain falling on snow.”

South Lake Tahoe temporarily ran out of sand at the Rufus Allen Boulevard site. Truckee’s supplies are running low after approximately 6,000 bags were distributed.

The National Weather Service in Reno says, “Widespread moderate to major flooding is imminent and very rapid rises on all waterways will begin this evening through Monday.”

The atmospheric river is still expected to bring rain to the 9,000-foot level, with 6 to 12 inches of rain in the basin between now and Monday morning.

The Douglas County Board of Commissioners have declared a state of emergency in preparation for the significant flooding event forecast for this weekend.

Alpine Meadows will be closed Jan. 8 and Squaw Valley will have limited terrain offerings. Tahoe Cross Country in Tahoe City will also be closed Sunday.