$400 million flood control project saves lives, property

Robert Macy

Friday, July 9, 1999 | 4:25 a.m.

A $1.4 billion flood control program which won't be finished for another quarter century still saved lives and property when this gambling capital was pummeled by up to 3 inches of rain in just two hours, flood experts said Friday.

The project is only 20 percent complete and won't be finished for another 25 years, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said.

But if Thursday's storm had happened a few years ago, "it would have been a disaster to end all disasters. What we've done with flood control is remarkable," he said.

Two deaths were blamed on the flash floods that sucked up cars, destroyed three mobile homes and invaded a casino, businesses and homes throughout the Las Vegas area.

Police and firefighters rescued 163 people from raging waters. Eight rescues had to be done by helicopter.

"I can't begin to estimate what would have happened if these flood controls were not in place," said Gale Fraser, general manager of the Clark County Regional Flood Control District. "I know it would have been a lot worse. Prior to our being here, there was no place for that water to go."

The system consists of 30 massive flood detention basins ranging in size from 10 acres to 80 acres. Fraser said one of the basins collected 400 acre-feet of water, equal to water that would cover a football field 400 feet high.

"That water would have run rampant through the valley," Fraser said.

The basins collect water pouring off mountains surrounding the city, then release it slowly along channels and washes that empty into Lake Mead.

Fraser said the scope of Thursday's storm played a role in the devastation, with heavy rains in all sections of the valley. Most storms here cover a more limited area.

The flood control project was initiated after devastating floods in 1975 and 1984.

About $400 million has been spent so far, while an additional $1 billion worth of work is planned.

City officials estimated public property damage at $620,000. Clark County and state officials had no damage estimates late Friday. City and county officials plan to ask the state for a disaster declaration.

Gov. Kenny Guinn, who toured the area Thursday and met with local officials, said the state had less than $4.8 million in its disaster aid fund.

Officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency were in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas City Manager Virginia Valentine said the impact of the flood was much like that of a hurricane or tornado.

"I hate to think what it would have been like without flood control," said Valentine, who was formerly general manager of the system.

Summer floods are not unusual here, where normal annual rainfall is 4 inches and a downpour of an inch or more can swamp streets and fill usually dry washes that criss-cross the valley.

When Clark County voters approved the flood control program after the 1984 floods, it was expected to cost $200 million. The cost grew as fast as the city.

Because of the geography of the famous, neon-lined Las Vegas Strip, most of the plush hotel-casinos escape flooding. However, this flood damaged part of the Caesars Palace casino, forcing operators to close part of its casino until midday Friday.

The Flamingo Wash, which produces some of the most serious flooding, passes under a section of Caesars, then beneath the Strip and under the Imperial Palace hotel-casino.