Residents decry county’s pre-flood efforts

Steve Kanigher and Jen Lawson

Thursday, Aug. 21, 2003 | 11:21 a.m.

Angry residents who live in the vicinity of storm-drenched Gowan Road say local government could have done more to prevent flooding in their neighborhood, but public officials say they can only do so much with the funding they have.

The story of Tuesday afternoon's fierce downpour that turned Gowan into a raging river is one that involves residents who helped pay for 1999 road improvements that they thought would make life easier in their northwest Las Vegas Valley neighborhood.

But it's also a story of a Clark County Regional Flood Control District that is under public pressure to distribute flood control projects throughout the valley with a limited budget based on sales tax revenue.

Officials concede that Gowan's flooding, which brought unwanted storm waters and mud to the doorsteps of many residents, probably could have been alleviated had there been more storm water detention basins, channels and drain pipes at higher elevations to the north. Such facilities would have done a better job of limiting the flow of water down Gowan, they say.

It so happens that the flood control district was already planning over the next year to build two new storm drains and extend an existing storm channel northwest of where the Gowan flooding occurred.

"That is $20 million in flood control improvements that will be under construction by the end of the year," flood control district spokeswoman Betty Hollister said. "Once all these projects are in place that area will be better protected from a storm like we had Tuesday."

The planned improvements -- storm drains on Buffalo Drive from Lone Mountain Road to Alexander Road and on Alexander from Jensen Street to Durango Drive, and a storm channel extension from approximately Durango and Alexander to Lone Mountain and El Capitan Way -- won't come soon enough for Gowan Road homeowner Dave Driscoll.

Driscoll's 3,000-square-foot house sustained $70,000 in damage to carpeting, kitchen flooring and cabinets. He said he does not plan to sue.

"Me, personally, I'm not one for lawsuits," Driscoll said. "But someone has to help me. Someone has to help my neighbor who has eight inches of water in her house."

Fellow Gowan resident Mary Beville said she was "disgusted and disappointed" that public officials haven't done more to prevent the flooding.

"We shouldn't be going through this," she said.

But Beville said she doesn't think it pays to sue, either.

"You can't fight corporations," she said. "You can't fight the government. We're just happy no one got hurt."

Gowan Road was a two-lane street without sidewalks in many locations before the city decided in 1998 to widen it to four lanes from U.S. 95 to Decatur Boulevard. The city of Las Vegas spent gasoline tax revenue to improve the road and add traffic signals, work that was completed the following year.

City and county homeowners who live along the road were also charged roughly $400,000 as part of a special improvement district to add curbs, gutters, sidewalks and street lights to Gowan. The assessments ranged from about $4,000 to $13,000 per homeowner, depending on the frontage length of the property.

The flood control district also added storm drains along the road, paid for from the quarter-cent sales tax levy the district is allowed to collect for its projects.

Hollister and Las Vegas City Engineer Charles Kajkowski said the flooding along Gowan was not due to any particular storm drain failure.

"It was an intense storm," Hollister said. "We haven't had any reports of failure."

Up to 3 inches of rain fell in the area Tuesday afternoon, overwhelming the system.

Kajkowski said the flooding problem could be blamed on the lack of flood control facilities to the north. He described flood control as such a complex, integrated system that storm drains alone are not enough to prevent flooding along a particular street.

"Prohibiting flooding in the valley relies on a multitude of systems being in place," he said. "We still need additional systems above Gowan and U.S. 95. The flow onto Gowan came from the north."

A new flood detention basin, for instance, is planned for the west end of Ann Road in the northwest valley. The problem is that flood control is hardly inexpensive. A storm drainage pipe can cost $5,000 a foot, Kajkowski said. So projects that everyone agrees are needed, such as the Ann Road facility, sit on the drawing board until funding becomes available.

"Like everything else, you don't have all the money in the world so you set priorities," Kajkowski said. "In my opinion, this storm may have an effect on re-prioritizing projects but it also may not because storms are unpredictable.

"You could put something into the ground in Las Vegas but then the next storm goes to North Las Vegas or Boulder City, so you're dealing with nature."

Flood control district general manager Gale Fraser said flood control capital improvement priorities are updated annually and that a master plan for the entire system, last revised in 2002, will be subject to review in 2007.

But Fraser said that because of growth it will be at least 25 years before the valley has a system in place that he hopes will significantly reduce the possibility for flooding overall.

"The district was formed in 1986 because there was no uniform, regional approach to flood control," he said. "We've been playing catchup from year one."

Because residents throughout the valley want to be protected from floods, Fraser said projects are built with the intent that everyone has about the same level of protection at any given time.

In other words, concentrating heavily on one end of the valley means other areas would be neglected.

"That same storm could have been parked over Henderson," Fraser said of Tuesday's downpour. "We're trying to implement our program uniformly in all parts of the valley."

That neighborhoods in the valley are still prone to flooding means frustration for residents who are tired of having to fight off storm water.

Susan and John Pierce, who have lived on Gowan Road since 1993, endured their first flood within months of moving into their home.

"We thought, 'We made the biggest mistake' " in buying the house, Susan Pierce said.

Tuesday's flooding reinforced that opinion. The Pierces are facing tens of thousands of dollars in damage to their one-story, three-bedroom home. Their desert landscaping alone will cost about $10,000 to replace because it is covered in mud, Susan Pierce said.

"The property has become a money pit for us," she said. "If you buy one of these homes and you're not smart enough to find out about the (flooding), you just have no idea" what trouble it will cause.

The Pierces and their neighbors are now mulling what action they may take.

"We will first talk to the City of Las Vegas in terms of reimbursement for damages," she said. "If they are not offering anything reasonable, we'll probably go to a lawyer."

Susan Pierce said she and her husband had earlier considered purchasing flood insurance but chose not to after thinking that nearby detention basins would protect them. Now, the Pierces say they look forward to selling their house -- once their children are grown -- and moving into another area that is not flood-prone.

In the meantime, they may purchase flood insurance.

"I know it's expensive but it might be worth it," she said.

Casino employee Ken Ashworth is one resident who decided to take matters into his own hands, literally. Ashworth, who lives near a cul-de-sac north of Gowan, used a sledge hammer Tuesday to smash open a mesh-covered gate that he said was chained closed to prevent children and animals from going into a storm channel. The problem was that the mesh was also preventing rain water from draining into the channel, he said.

Because of the gate, Ashworth said the storm water backed up and caused significant damage to three neighboring homes.

"If I hadn't gotten that gate opened, another two to three feet of water would have gone into those homes," he said.

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