Las Vegas search-and-rescue head to Northern Nevada for flood damage assessment

RENO — An urban search-and-rescue team has been deployed from Las Vegas to Northern Nevada to help assess damage from recent flooding caused by warm weather and rapid snowmelt.

Nevada Task Force 1 headed late Thursday to the Reno area, where members are expected to spend at least three days surveying conditions in Lemmon Valley.

The task force includes 33 firefighters, a structural engineer, a communications specialist and a medical doctor.

The team has been deployed in the past after events like Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the Oklahoma City bombing.

Gov. Brian Sandoval and U.S. Sens. Dean Heller and Catherine Cortez Masto are seeking a federal disaster declaration and relief to help Nevada residents recover from flooding that swamped roads and homes from California to Utah.