Residents sue county over flood damage from creek

Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2000 | 11:08 a.m.

When Leonard and Jean Georges and Rainier and Mignon Gund moved into their homes along Duck Creek in the Las Vegas Valley's southeast, they had never heard of flooding problems.

But they were to learn plenty in the coming months.

The homeowners filed a lawsuit last week claiming that Clark County's improvements in the past two years to the Duck Creek channel caused more than $400,000 in damage to their homes during a major flood on July 8, 1999.

About 2 feet of floodwaters poured into the Georges' residence at 7181 Mira Monte Circle and the Gunds' home at 2672 Vista Del Sol Ave., said Las Vegas attorney Francis Lynch, who represents the homeowners.

The Gunds' concrete driveway has been replaced four times by the county since the 1999 storm, Lynch said Monday. "Every time it rains, the driveway washes away," he said.

The 1999 flood was considered a major storm that caused more than $20 million in damage to public property.

The county had built structures called gabions in the creek, Lynch said, to divert floodwaters. As the structures of rock captured tumbleweeds and other debris, the creek's channel narrowed and forced the water over the tops and into the homes, the suit alleges.

Although the creek is 10 feet deep in some places, the gabions caused the water level to rise, flowing into the yards and homes, Lynch said.

Inside the Gund home, water pressure cracked interior walls as the flood invaded the house, Lynch said.

"Our estimates of damage are probably conservative," he said.

The homeowners had been negotiating with county officials, but they could not come to a satisfactory agreement, Lynch said.

County spokesman Doug Bradford said he was aware that the lawsuit had been filed.

"We have to review it and take a look at the complaint, then resolve it as quickly as we can," Bradford said.