Second wave hits LV

Jace Radke and Mary Manning

Wednesday, July 14, 1999 | 11:33 a.m.

A fast-moving thunderstorm pounded the Las Vegas Valley through the night Tuesday and caused flooding, accidents and a second evacuation of the Miracle Mile Mobile Home Park.

The storm moved into the valley from San Bernardino County, Calif., about 11:30 p.m. with thunderclaps that battered the south end of the Strip and sounded like bombs going off.

By 11:45 p.m. the Flamingo Wash was overflowing into the Miracle Mile park, 3642 Boulder Highway, for the second time in five days.

"I was standing down in the wash at 10:30 p.m. and then the thunder and lightning started to come about 11:30 p.m.," said Steven Saldana, a resident of the nearby King's Row Mobile Home Park. "The rain came and it just started filling the wash up like on Thursday."

The wash flowed over barricades and temporary barriers to close down Boulder Highway outside the park. Debris, including parts of an air conditioner and a child's rubber ball, was thrown around by the raging waters in the wash.

The water cut the dirt out from under part of one of the double-wide mobile homes leaving it precariously balanced over the wash and threatening to fall in.

"When I saw the rain coming down again I grabbed my dog and started knocking on my neighbors' doors," said Durango Lang, who lives in Miracle Mile. "All the neighbors went down the rows and told everyone they knew to head for higher ground."

Metro Police officers drove through as much as 2 feet of water to help evacuate residents whose mobile homes backed up to the wash.

Officially the rainfall measured 0.13 of an inch at McCarran International Airport. But a rain gauge at Flamingo Road and Decatur Boulevard showed 0.94 of an inch in an hour, Pierce said. The year's official rainfall to date measured 2.59 inches.

The rain cooled the valley as well. A record low high temperature for July 13 was set at 85 degrees. The previous record was 94 degrees in 1992.

More showers and thunderstorms are expected this afternoon and evening as moist air from Mexico and California streams into the Southwest, the National Weather Service said.

The summer storm season for Southern Nevada has just begun and usually continues through mid-September.

Regional Flood Control meteorologist Tim Sutko said the rain dumped a foot of water into the Flamingo Wash on the west side of the valley at Decatur, and that flow gained strength as it headed east toward the Las Vegas Wash, wreaking more havoc at the Miracle Mile park on its way.

Relatives and those with family and friends in the park gathered in the parking lot in hopes of finding out if their loved ones were OK.

"I just came here to see if I could get my mother out," said one woman who was taken to her mother's mobile home by police.

"This is just a tragedy for the people that live here," Saldana said. "It's amazing what Mother Nature can do in just a few minutes."

Others couldn't believe that the storm had come so soon after Thursday's devastating rain, which caused an estimated $20.6 million in damage.

"My driveway had just been cleaned up and now this happens," Lang said. "The whole street is mud again, and we've got the same mess we had last Thursday."

Besides the Miracle Mile, fast-moving water from the storm, which lasted only 40 minutes, flooded intersections and streets.

Among the flooded intersections were Valley View Boulevard and Sahara Avenue, Desert Inn and Wynn roads, and Rancho Drive and Sahara. The Charleston underpass was also under water, and the southbound Interstate 15 ramp to Flamingo Road was waterlogged.

Western Avenue between Sahara and Charleston Boulevard was also flooded.

Swift water rescues occurred all over the city including the intersections of Twain Avenue and Industrial Road and Desert Inn and Wynn.

At the intersection of Sahara and Rancho, Catisha Marsh became stuck in more than 2 feet of water that started to seep in through the doorjams of her car.

"I hope my car will still work after this," Marsh, an editor at the Sentinal Voice newspaper, said. "It stalled when I tried to go through here."

Marsh escaped from her car after waiting for the water to recede.

At the same intersection a car crashed into two Nevada Highway Patrol cars.

The driver was headed eastbound on Sahara, and instead of stopping at the NHP's barricade in front of the flooded intersection he careened into the cars, nearly hitting a trooper directing traffic.

There were no injuries, and the man was charged with suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, Sgt. Dennis Belfi said.

The flooding began midafternoon Tuesday, with a a flash flood warning for the northwestern valley after almost 2 inches of rain fell at Red Rock Canyon.

Red Rock received 1 1/2 inches of rain in less than an hour, but the runoff flowed into the Regional Flood Control District's nearby detention basin, Sutko said, and did not threaten urban areas.

The Bureau of Land Management closed the Red Rock Canyon Visitors Center and the 13-mile scenic loop drive at the height of the flooding, BLM spokesman Phil Guerrero said.

Since Thursday's flooding the visitors center has been closed intermittently as leaks interrupted electricity and phone service, Guerrero said. The center was open on Sunday.

The Nevada Department of Transportation closed Calico Basin Road near Red Rock Canyon after floodwaters cut off access to the handful of residences.

At Mount Charleston 2.04 inches of rain fell.

Humidity levels ranged from 85 percent on Mount Charleston to 45 percent in the Las Vegas Valley.

While allergy sufferers rejoiced from pollen counts that ranged from zero to the teens, molds and fungus spores jumped to 444 grains in a cubic yard of air at a monitor maintained in the desert by the Clark County Health District. Normal mold counts in Southern Nevada are in the teens.

The highest mold count -- 588 particles in a cubic yard of air -- occurred in the northwestern valley at the James McMillan Elementary School at U.S. 95 and Lake Mead Drive.

However, hotter and drier air will begin returning as early as Thursday, National Weather Service meteorologist Charlie Schlott said. By the weekend temperatures are expected to reach the 100s and the rain should be gone.

As stormy weather continued for the sixth day, federal emergency teams continued today to assess flood damages to private property after estimating public property losses up to $20.6 million.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Coordinator Robert Fenton said the $20.6 million covers losses for public property such as roads, channels and cleanup in both the city of Las Vegas and Clark County.

There is no guarantee that Southern Nevada will receive federal aid.

Gov. Kenny Guinn is waiting for the final FEMA damage total before taking further action, his spokesman Jack Finn said. The governor can request a disaster declaration.

Low-interest loans and grants may become available to Southern Nevada residents if President Clinton declares the area a disaster based on the FEMA assessment.

After surveying flood damages from Thursday's storm, FEMA spokesman Michael Raphael urged residents to buy flood insurance. If homes and businesses are outside areas that flood, the extra coverage costs about $100 a year. If buildings are located in a flood-prone area, the annual cost averages $400 a year.

The Small Business Administration does not need a presidential declaration to offer both homeowners and businesses financial assistance, SBA spokesman Richard Jenkins said from his Sacramento office. That federal agency's evaluation is continuing.

Meanwhile, Clark County Parks and Recreation Department announced a delay in the Joe Shoong Park summer celebration in southeast Clark County because of poor weather.

Other Clark County parks remained unaffected by flooding, Park Manager Jerry Royther said.

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