Editorial: Stop the flooding now

Wednesday, April 7, 2004 | 9:05 a.m.

When a tourist last year was electrocuted on the Strip after stepping on a utility grate during a rainstorm, Clark County ordered every grate inspected -- and there are more than 70,000 of them. But another life-threatening danger on the Strip is not being addressed with the same sense of responsibility. Every time it rains hard or for any duration, the parking garage behind the Imperial Palace floods, subjecting whoever might be there to torrents of water. Just last week, for example, two men had to be rescued by the Clark County Fire Department when rain turned the garage into a fast-moving river.

The hotel, however, is not doing anything other than monitoring the situation every time it rains. It has no plans to make any structural improvements, despite requests to do so from the Clark County Public Works Department. In our view, the hotel, on its own, with no prodding, should do whatever it takes to make its property safe. Failing that, the county, which regulates the hotels on the Strip, should insist that the Imperial Palace make the necessary improvements. The insistence will come soon enough if someone is killed, but why wait until tragedy strikes?

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