Flash Flood Warning for Washoe, Mineral, Storey, and Lander Counties Through August 13 at 5 PM PDT: Where to Climb and What to Abandon

A Flash Flood Warning is in effect right now for Washoe, Mineral, Storey, and Lander counties in Nevada, running from 2:46 PM PDT to 5:00 PM PDT on August 13, 2026. The warning was issued jointly by the National Weather Service office in Reno, Nevada and NWS Elko, Nevada, and it covers a specific, high-danger zone: the Stallion Fire Burn Scar. If you are in or near that area on the afternoon of August 13, this warning applies to you right now.

This is not a watch or an advisory. NWS Reno has classified this as a life-threatening situation. Heavy rainfall is driving extensive and severe flash flooding of creeks, streams, and ditches throughout the burn scar. Because fire-scarred terrain has lost the vegetation and soil structure that would normally absorb and slow rainfall, water moves faster, carries more sediment, and surges with far less warning than it would on unburned ground.

What NWS Is Telling Residents to Do Right Now

The official National Weather Service instruction is direct and specific. Severe debris flows are anticipated across roads. Roads and driveways may be washed away entirely in places. The agency is not describing minor ponding or inconvenient puddles. It is describing the physical removal of pavement and driving surfaces by moving water and mud.

The single most important instruction in the alert is this: if you encounter flood waters, climb to safety. That means moving uphill, away from channels, ditches, washes, and low-lying roadways. It does not mean waiting in your vehicle to see whether the water rises further. It does not mean attempting to drive through water crossing a road. The moment you see flood water on or near a road in the affected counties on August 13, 2026, the correct action is to stop, turn around if you can do so safely on higher ground, and move upward on foot if the vehicle is already in jeopardy.

Debris flows compound the danger in burn scar environments because they carry rocks, burned logs, and sediment in addition to water. A flow that looks shallow can carry enough solid material to sweep a vehicle off a road or block an escape route within seconds. The NWS warning specifically anticipates these flows across roads, which means travel through the burn scar area between now and 5:00 PM PDT on August 13 should be avoided entirely if at all possible.

Do not wait for water to enter a structure before acting. If you are in a low-lying building, vehicle, or camp in the Stallion Fire Burn Scar right now, move to higher ground immediately.

Why Burn Scars Make Flash Floods More Dangerous and What That Means for Preparedness

Fire and flood are not separate seasons in the American West. They are a sequence. The same conditions that produce large wildfires, dry vegetation, low humidity, and wind, also leave behind terrain that is extraordinarily vulnerable to flash flooding when monsoon moisture arrives. Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Utah have each seen this pattern repeat. According to federal disaster declaration data, fire accounts for 33 of the 51 federal disaster declarations issued across the country in the last 60 days, with those four states among the hardest hit. Burn scars created by those fires do not recover before the next rainstorm arrives.

For residents and travelers in fire-affected parts of Nevada, the practical takeaway is to treat any burn scar zone as a flash flood hazard zone for the remainder of the monsoon season, not just during active warnings. Before traveling through or camping near recently burned terrain, check active alerts at weather.gov and identify the nearest high ground on your route before you need it. A few minutes of planning before departure is the difference between a detour and an emergency.

Monitor updates from NWS Reno at weather.gov/reno and NWS Elko at weather.gov/elko for any extensions or expansions of this warning through the remainder of the afternoon on August 13, 2026.

For the fundamentals that apply beyond this specific alert, see our Flood Preparedness guide.

Source: National Weather Service (NWS Reno NV, NWS Elko NV). Active alert data retrieved 2026-08-13 22:01 UTC via api.weather.gov.