More rain expected in LV over weekend

Thursday, Feb. 17, 2000 | 11:20 a.m.

A storm that slammed into the Las Vegas Valley about 6 p.m. Wednesday brought lightning, thunder, rain and hail, causing power to go out at a Strip resort and numerous fender benders on slick streets.

Police also found a body in a drainage pipe near Lamb and Charleston boulevards this morning, although it was unclear whether it was storm-related.

In last year's July 8 flash flood, one homeless man drowned in the Flamingo Wash as fast-moving water caught him by surprise.

New York-New York hotel-casino reported 60 percent of its power gone at 6:15 p.m. The hotel continued to operate on back-up generators until Nevada Power Co. crews restored electricity about an hour later.

Nevada Power spokeswoman Sonya Headen said the outage was weather-related, but could not specify a cause for the blackout.

Numerous traffic signals went dark, including those at Boulder Highway and Russell Road, as one storm after another streaked across the valley until about 8:30 p.m.

The Charleston Underpass, west of Main Street, was closed by road crews at 8:40 p.m. Wednesday as the valley's runoff filled it, Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said. No one was trapped.

But Metro Police did spot an unoccupied car surrounded by floodwater shortly after 8 p.m. on Industrial Road south of Tropicana Avenue.

Although no road closures were reported, normally dry washes churned with muddy runoff from the storms.

Temperatures that had hovered at or above 70 degrees Wednesday afternoon plunged to 47 degrees by 8 p.m., the National Weather Service reported. Lows tonight and through the weekend will average 40 to 45 degrees.

At McCarran International Airport 0.43 of an inch of rain had fallen by 11 p.m. In one downtown Henderson gauge, as much as three-quarters of an inch was recorded.

Mesquite, about 65 miles northeast of Las Vegas, recorded close to an inch of rain, the weather service said.

Mount Charleston received 5 inches of snow during the day Wednesday and added another 3 to 5 inches during the evening storms.

Winds gusted to more than 40 mph as the thunderstorms rumbled across the valley.

National Weather Service forecasters predict a cooler, drier day today with a high of up to 60 degrees, as northwest winds pick up from 15 to 30 mph.

More rain is expected late Saturday and Sunday, and more showers could continue through Monday.

While Southern Nevada weather forecasters had predicted a colder and drier winter because of a cold water mass called La Nina in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the scattered thunderstorms within the past week are not unusual for February.

In 1998, when El Nino warmed the eastern Pacific, 2.85 inches of rain fell in the Las Vegas Valley during February.

The El Nino-La Nina weather patterns occur in part from a complex change in the Pacific Ocean that shifts warm and cold water masses, causing high altitude winds that drive storms into Southern California and Nevada.