Flood control project started

Friday, Feb. 20, 1998 | 10:27 a.m.

Sens. Harry Reid and Richard Bryan, both D-Nev., were among those present Thursday to celebrate the start of construction on the newest leg of the Blue Diamond Channel.

The Blue Diamond Channel, part of a $230 million project initiated by Reid in the early 1990s, will connect the Blue Diamond detention basin to the main Beltway Channel and reduce the risk of flood damage throughout the Las Vegas Valley.

"With thousands of new residents moving to Clark County each month and new businesses and housing developments popping up all over the Las Vegas Valley, we cannot afford any more devastating floods," said Reid, who is the ranking member of the Senate's Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee whose major responsibilities include flood control.

The two-mile stretch of channel -- running east from west of Rainbow Boulevard to Lindell Avenue -- will have a maximum depth of 13 feet and vary in width from 20 to 52 feet. The channel is part of an overall project which includes construction for 28 miles of primary flood channels and a network of collector channels.

Since 1960, Clark County has experienced at least eight separate incidents in which flood damage to public and private property exceeded $1 million. At least 23 lives have been lost in 10 separate flash flood events.

The purpose of the Blue Diamond Beltway Channel project is to greatly reduce the risk of flood damage from a 100-year flood which in 1983 caused seven deaths and an estimated $27 million in property damage.

The Blue Diamond Beltway Channel project is a joint effort between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Clark County Regional Flood District and Clark County Public Works.