Boy escapes raging water

Friday, Sept. 5, 2003 | 11:13 a.m.

A 10-year-old Henderson boy skateboarding in a concrete flood channel was hit by a wall of brown water and swept away as strong thunderstorms raked the southeast valley Thursday afternoon.

The boy managed to pull himself out of the rushing waters that rose from 10 inches to more than 3 feet in the channel within minutes, Battalion Chief Doug Koopman of the Henderson Fire Department said.

Koopman said 16 firefighters responded to a call that came about 3:30 p.m., but none of the rescuers entered the raging waters flowing into a tunnel at U.S. 95 west of the Fiesta Henderson hotel-casino on Lake Mead Drive.

A resident near Horizon Ridge saw the boy inundated with floodwaters, Koopman said.

"I was in the dispatch center when we got the call about the boy," said Bud Cranor, public information specialist for Henderson. "I have a 9-year-old boy myself and I can tell you people were physically sick at the call."

Koopman said firefighters were also responding to a Clark County School District bus that had hydroplaned on U.S. 95 and spun around, and was facing the wrong way on the freeway. There were no children on board and the driver was not injured in that incident.

A half-inch rain fell on the southeast valley and Henderson during three thunderstorms Thursday afternoon.

Koopman said people outside should pay attention to the safety hazards that thunderstorms can bring.

"Two inches of water rushing like that can knock you off, adult or child, it doesn't matter," Koopman said.

"A rock or other debris floating in those waters can knock you off your feet."

For a short time, a Henderson police officer was missing from the rescue scene, Koopman said. He emerged safely, however.

"We were all set up to save one of our own," Koopman said.

People living in Henderson, Green Valley and the Seven Hills development reported hail up to an inch wide Thursday, National Weather Service forecaster Kim Runk said. Winds gusted between 40 mph and 50 mph, Runk said.

A Pacific Northwest storm moving into California tonight should scour the rest of the Southwest monsoonal moisture out of Southern Nevada by Saturday, Runk said.

Minor flooding closed streets throughout Henderson on Thursday, but all roads had reopened by 6 p.m.