SPARKS, Nev. (AP) — Residents and business owners throughout the Reno-Sparks area filled tens of thousands of sandbags Friday to help protect against what's expected to be the region's worst flooding in more than a decade on the heels of a storm that dumped 6 feet of snow this week atop the Sierra Nevada.

This weekend's flooding could rival a flood in the winter of 2005-06 that sent 5 feet of water into the Sparks industrial area made up of warehouses and manufacturing plants, authorities said. Workers were trying to secure storage drums filled with hazardous materials to stop them from floating away as they have in past floods.

"They won't only go into the river, they will be floating around the city of Sparks," Acting Sparks Mayor Ron Smith said. "And when we find those barrels, we don't know what is in them."

The area is also home to marijuana growing facilities that are at risk of being flooded.