Three flood control projects on tap

Tuesday, April 10, 2001 | 11:11 a.m.

Clark County and Regional Flood Control District officials today will formally unveil construction plans for three projects they believe will help mitigate flooding in the vulnerable southeast quadrant of the Las Vegas Valley.

The projects include the $960,000 Robindale Road bridge construction over Duck Creek Wash, the $5.2 million Duck Creek channel between Emerald Avenue and Stephanie Street and the $2.7 million Duck Creek channel from Warm Springs Road to Tomiyasu Lane.

"This is celebrating that we have three projects under way on the Duck Creek system," said Patricia Cook, a spokeswoman for the county's Public Works Department.

The Robindale bridge work is expected to be finished by June, the channel work from Emerald Avenue to Stephanie by October and the channel work from Warm Springs to Tomiyasu by December.

"The channel work not only protects those immediately adjacent to it, it controls the flows down the channel," Cook said. "It's a major drainage system."

Duck Creek Wash winds from the south part of the valley at Interstate 15, past Windmill Lane, the Beltway, Pecos Road and Boulder Highway. During flood events thousands of residents and motorists are potentially effected by rising waters in the wash.

Gale Fraser, general manager of the Clark County Regional Flood Control District, said floodwaters from the wash have damaged property at least three times in the past two years.

In July 1999, a condominium complex at Stephanie and the wash was damaged. In July 1998, a mobile home complex near Sam Boyd Stadium was hit by water from the wash. And in another July 1999 flood, motorists dodged floodwaters that damaged Robindale Road.

Where and how floodwaters damage property depends on where rain hits and how heavy it comes down, Fraser said. While that might seem obvious, one of the implications is that runoff from rain in one part of the valley can damage property alongside a wash miles away.

The district now has about $300 million in projects under design or construction throughout the Las Vegas Valley. The Duck Creek Wash is one of seven major washes in the valley the district is struggling to tame.

Cook said the entire Lower Duck Creek Wash project would cost about $35 million.

"It's a community that developed without regard to flood control," Fraser said. "In places, we're getting ahead of the game. In other areas we're still playing catchup."

A $12 million detention basin, designed to temporarily hold and reduce flood water impact downstream, has already helped the Duck Creek Wash, Fraser said. Clark County Public Works and the flood control district completed that project at Richmar Avenue and Bermuda Road in September.

The flood control work is funded by a 0.25 percent sales tax in the county.

Fraser said work since the district was founded in 1986 has helped alleviate some of the worst flooding even as the developed land in the valley has grown exponentially.

"We've made substantial progress," he said. "Obviously, a lot more needs to be done. There's a lot more on the way."