Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004 | 11:20 a.m.
As Las Vegas residents detoured around water-logged roads Wednesday, the next winter storm pounced on Northern California and is expected to move into Southern Nevada tonight through Friday.
Rainfall in the Las Vegas Valley set records by Wednesday as unstable air poured into the West from the Gulf of Alaska, setting storms on track to roar through Southern Nevada until the middle of next week.
Some roads remained closed in urban Las Vegas, an extreme avalanche warning was in effect in the backcountry of the Spring Mountains and more rain and snow is expected tonight and Friday.
No rain is expected today, a brief respite from a series of storms lining up in the Pacific.
The National Weather Service is predicting that winds of 10 to 20 mph will blow on New Year's Eve, dropping to 10 mph after midnight, weather service meteorologist Brian Fuis said. But exactly when the wind will decrease -- the critical question for the fireworks shows -- is very difficult to predict, Fuis added.
Whether winds will put a damper on the massive New Year's Eve fireworks show planned for the Strip will be determined 10 minutes before the launch of the rockets' red glare, Las Vegas officials said.
Wind speeds 10 mph or more could halt the show.
Clark County Fire Department experts will have the final word on whether the fireworks show goes.
More rain and snow are expected with the next in a series of winter storms blasting through the West this week and next, Fuis said.
With two days left in 2004, the area's rainfall broke weather records set since record-keeping began in 1934 after intense rainfalls Tuesday and Wednesday.
This is the wettest December ever in Las Vegas, weather service meteorologist Andy Bailey said in a report. To date, 2.10 inches of rain has fallen this month. The old record for December was 1.76 set in 1940.
The storms Tuesday and Wednesday pushed the annual rainfall total in Las Vegas to 7.76 inches. This would make it the fourth wettest year on record.
"This could change as more rain is forecast through the end of the year," Bailey said.
Wettest years so far include 1941 with 10.72 inches, 1992 with 9.88 inches, 1965 with 7.96 inches and 1978 at 7.65 inches.
The 1.13 inches of rainfall received by Wednesday broke the record for the wettest day in December ever, Bailey said. The old record was set Tuesday when 0.97 of an inch fell at McCarran International Airport. Before that, the record was 0.95 of an inch on Dec. 24, 1977.
And finally, the 24-hour rainfall total from noon Tuesday until noon Wednesday of 2.10 inches was the second wettest 24-hour period ever recorded in Las Vegas. The highest 24-hour period of rain occurred Aug. 20 and 21, 1957.
The steady, at times heavy, downpours Tuesday and Wednesday resulted in 400 accidents answered by Metro Police and 105 accidents handled by the Nevada Highway Patrol. Normal calls for each agency runs about one-fifth of those totals.
A county coroner's office spokeswoman said there had been no reports of any deaths tied to flooding. In the past homeless people have perished as floodwaters swept across the valley. Since 1960 the area's flooding has claimed 29 lives, a Regional Flood Control District history states. Floods have occurred in every month of the year with the most damaging storms between July and September.
Urban streets remained closed late Wednesday until Clark County Public Works crews could remove debris, opening blocked drainage holes, said spokesman Bobby Shelton.
"There's lots of area still underwater," Shelton said.
Silverado Ranch at Gillespie, Warm Springs Road south of Jones Boulevard, Topaz Avenue south of Warm Springs and Sur Estes between Bermuda Avenue and Spencer Drive and Eldorado also between Bermuda and Spencer, all in the southeast and south central valley, remained closed late Wednesday.
Rainfall totals in the Regional Flood Control District's 66 detention basins help explain why the streets flooded.
For the most part, however, the 416 miles of channels carried floodwaters away from the valley, Regional Flood Control District general manager Gale Fraser said.
Water levels in the north cell of the Tropicana Detention Basin rose to 24 feet, the Blue Diamond Detention Basin filled to eight feet, the Upper Flamingo Detention Basin filled to almost eight feet and Gowan South and Gowan North Detention Basins in North Las Vegas captured about 12 feet and nine feet of water overnight, respectively.
To put the storm in perspective, Fraser said that a thunderstorm in August 2003 affecting the northwest valley dropped three inches of rain within 90 minutes.
"That amount of rainfall exceeded the 100-year storm," Fraser said. "The storm over the past day, while a lot of rain, doesn't produce the flash flooding we saw in the summer of 2003 because the rain fell more slowly over a longer period of time."
Flood control projects under construction at Flamingo Road and Boulder Highway as well as the Sloan Channel in eastern Las Vegas near Charleston Boulevard and Christie Lane may have been damaged by the flooding, Fraser said.
Project contractors build in potential damages from stormy weather before they begin work, Fraser said, so costs of the projects won't increase.
"More importantly, it delays projects until sites are cleaned out," Fraser said. Damages have not been estimated because there is so much water in low-lying areas where flood control project are built.
Although the Regional Flood Control District has been building flood control basins and channels since 1987, spending $1 billion, it could take another 30 years and an additional $1.7 billion to complete flood control projects in the valley, Fraser said.
While the valley worried about flooding, the Spring Mountains received a blanket of new snow.
The U.S. Forest Service issued an extreme avalanche warning for wet, dense and heavy snows in Kyle and Lee Canyons and the backcountry area.
The avalanche warning does not apply to the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard resort, which received 22 inches of fresh powder by Wednesday, according to the resort's daily report.
The Forest Service will continue to monitor the snows and issue avalanche warnings every one to three days.
"We want to remind people that both Kyle and Lee canyons have substantial avalanche terrain along with a history of avalanche activity," District Ranger Tim Short said.
Also, the Nevada Department of Wildlife temporarily closed the 17,657 acre Overton Wildlife Management Area north of Lake Mead after flooding sent the popular hunting and wildlife viewing area under water, Keith Brose, installation supervisor, said.
"The management area is totally underwater," Brose said. "We closed the area Wednesday morning for safety purposes. We don't know the extent of the damage."
Three washes -- Kaolin, Magnasite and Overton -- all west of the management area flooded overnight. Railroad tracks west of the area had also been washed out.
Hunters who had made reservations to hunt in the area were being advised of the flooded conditions on Wednesday, Brose said. The department had no timetable to reopen the area.
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