Hurricane Nora brings heavy rains to Vegas

Thursday, Sept. 25, 1997 | 9:53 a.m.

For the first time in more than 50 years, Southern Nevada is feeling the brunt of a hurricane.

Hurricane Nora's rains reached into Southern Nevada about 1 a.m. today. Heavier showers from the tropical storm brought traffic to a halt during morning rush hour on many local streets and highways. Numerous traffic accidents were reported and intersections were flooded.

"U.S. 95 looks like a parking lot," Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Steve Harney said today.

A 76-year-old man was killed and a woman was critically injured early today in a weather-related accident on U.S. 95, Boulder City Police said.

The man was driving a Mercury Grand Marquis northbound near Railroad Pass when he lost control on slick roads and struck the side of a tractor-trailer rig shortly before 7 a.m., police said.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene. The woman was taken by Flight for Life helicopter to University Medical Center in what police called "extreme critical condition."

Forecasters expect the storm's most powerful elements to hit the U.S. mainland early this afternoon near Yuma, Ariz.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for today and tonight in Clark, Nye and Lincoln counties.

The last tropical moisture packing anything near Nora's punch came in September 1939, state Climatologist John James said. Las Vegas received 3.39 inches of rain that week. But Searchlight set an all-time high for Southern Nevada with 8.45 inches, 3.84 inches alone falling on Sept. 12.

By this morning, Searchlight and Jean had received 0.08 inch of light rain. McCarran International Airport recorded a trace.

The largest amount registered by 8 a.m. today was three-quarters of an inch at Goodsprings, southwest of Las Vegas.

Rare Pacific Coast hurricanes have sprung into action from the early effects of El Nino, a warming section of ocean waters the size of the United States this year.

It's the first time in recorded history a tropical storm of this size -- 250 miles wide -- has pushed this far into the Southwest's deserts, the Weather Channel reported.

Between four and six inches of rain could fall on Las Vegas in 24 hours in the worst case, weather officials said. Heaviest rains will fall during expected thunderstorms.

That's a year's worth of rain for the Las Vegas Valley, noted National Weather Service meteorologist Ernie Cobb.

The storm's march inland was expected to drop 1 to 3 inches of rain average in the valley through Friday, Chief Meteorologist Larry Jensen said.

Emergency service crews in Southern Nevada went on alert starting Wednesday afternoon.

"It's a very, very big system," said Bob Cullins Jr., emergency management coordinator for the Las Vegas Fire Department.

Firefighters were ready to rescue motorists from swamped cars and people trapped beneath fallen buildings and trees, Las Vegas Fire Chief Mario Travino said.

"We're trying to protect the health and safety of the citizens," said Las Vegas City Manager Larry Barton. "We're trying to protect their lives."

Mayor Jan Laverty Jones had emergency declarations prepared and ready to sign, if a disaster is declared.

The Clark County Regional Flood Control District prepared to move up to 3 million sandbags from Fallon Naval Air Station to Southern Nevada today.

The city of Las Vegas stores 3,500 sandbags in two separate locations in the valley.

Gale Fraser, Regional Flood Control District director, said his agency notified the public works departments of area cities and Clark County about possible flooding and the need to close roads.

Since 2 inches of rain fell in the northwest valley in 12 hours on Sept. 3 and Henderson and Boulder City were hammered with 2.5 inches in six hours on Aug. 10, flood control crews have been clearing debris, Fraser said.

Residents should remember to stay out of rushing water and avoid flooded streets, Fraser said. "It's better to be late than to be dead," he said.

Six inches of running water can knock a walker down or sweep a car away, he said.

Although $280 million in flood control projects stand ready for the watery onslaught, a torrent could top basins and channels, Fraser said. "If we get six inches in a couple hours, they are not designed for that event," he said.

Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski, who has seen hurricanes when he lived in Atlanta, said, "Tropical storms are very unpredictable."

"I'm not saying there should be a rush on grocery stores or people should start leaving Las Vegas," Szymanski said.

But as soon as television stations and weather reports began forecasting heavy downpours, panicky people across the country flooded local phone lines, including the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and the county's emergency management office.

"There was just a barrage of calls," said John Jersey, rural coordinator for the Clark County Fire Department. "Rain can do a lot of damage here in the valley."

County fire began training its employees in swift-water rescues about seven years ago, refining their capabilities with each class as new equipment and techniques have evolved.

"You can be swept away even in ankle-deep water," Jersey said. Water moving 5 to 6 mph is about 260 pounds of pressure. "We've seen it move vehicles, even school buses."

Volunteers in the Mesquite area were busy Wednesday filling sandbags. Laughlin fire officials had scheduled an extra rescue unit to come on this morning.

"We're in a wait-and-watch mode," Jersey said. "We've been preparing for a long time."

Henderson's emergency planner, Jack Finney, said the city would prepare for the worst and hope for the best after a devastating flood in August.

Boulder City, after getting $1.1 million from the Regional Flood Control District, will wait until hurricane Nora leaves the state before making major repairs.

State Climatologist John James said the prediction didn't surprise him.

"It's possible for heavy rains to fall in some mountain areas," James said. "It looks like Mount Charleston could get a lot."

Southern Nevada's mountains could get four to 10 inches if the storm stays on track, James said.

The brunt of the hurricane could stay to the south of the Las Vegas Valley, he said.

Visitors to Lake Mead National Recreation Area were advised that up to five inches of rain could drop over the next two days.

"Our field rangers will be contacting visitors who may be camping in low-lying areas around Lake Mead and Lake Mohave to advise them of the incoming weather and to recommend they move camps to higher ground," said Assistant Chief Ranger Bud Inman.

The National Park Service also warned boaters over the marine band radio.

In August up to three inches of rain fell within an hour on the lake. Rangers warned visitors that flooding can occur in normally dry washes even when it is not raining overhead.

The latest El Nino began west of Peru, but its effects reached the Northern California coast. South American fishermen named the event "El Nino," after the Christ child, because it appeared around Christmas. This El Nino came early.

The 8-day-old hurricane battered tourist towns at Baja California's tip and swamped Arizona Wednesday afternoon with storms as it moved 10 to 15 mph across the Southwest.

Arizona Gov. Jane Hull declared a state of emergency for Yuma County, including Tucson, in preparation for the storm. Up to 3.6 inches of rain were expected in the valleys and 8 to 10 inches in Arizona's mountains. Yuma normally gets 3.6 inches a year. A tornado touched down west of the city of Yuma for 10 seconds.

Red Cross volunteers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, visiting Las Vegas this week, went to Arizona Wednesday afternoon to aid those further south in the brunt of the storm.

It was the second major Pacific hurricane this month. Hurricane Linda drifted northwest over the Pacific, never making land.

Although the Clark County School District wasn't making any specific plans to deal with the rain, school district spokesman Ray Willis said an emergency plan to deal with disasters is always in place.

The Clark County School District Emergency Action Plan is outlined in a document that Willis said is "widely advertised throughout the district." The plan has instructions for dealing with natural disasters such as flooding and earthquakes and man-made emergencies such as bomb threats and explosions.

"You name it, it's covered in that document," Willis said.

Neither the school district nor its construction management firm, Parson-Fleming-Taylor, is responsible for the protection of schools under construction.

That responsibility, according to PFT area manager Bill Callahan, rests solely with the building's main contractor.

"The contractor would be responsible for planning ahead in order to assure that any material that has been installed would be properly protected against rain and flooding," Callahan said.

SUN REPORTERS Teresa Hinds, Karen Zekan and Ed Koch and the Associated Press contributed to this story.

archive