Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2004 | 11:10 a.m.
Scores of city and county public works crews stayed busy this morning cleaning debris left in roadways throughout the Las Vegas Valley after two days of rain.
Meanwhile authorities are warning drivers today to watch for material on Clark County streets. They're also hoping motorists don't try to drive down closed streets again.
Numerous cars stalled or otherwise became stuck in muck and water Monday when people drove around barricades or attempted to ford flooded streets.
Every time rain courses over valley roads, county officials try to tell people not to drive on flooded roads. There continues to be an ongoing campaign to that effect, with billboards and television commercials. But far too many drivers ignored that advice Monday when a second successive day of rain which put the valley over the averages for monthly and annual precipitation, authorities complained.
Roads were particularly bad in the southwest part of the valley where development had not yet progressed to curbs and gutters and where flood control systems are not yet complete.
"If flood water is flowing over a road and there's no curb and gutter you have no gauge of how deep the water is or where the road ends," said Betty Hollister, spokeswoman for the Clark County Regional Flood Control District.
"If you happen to veer off the edge of the road where obviously there's water and mud and it's unstable, you can lose control of your vehicle and get mired in the mud," Hollister said. "In some cases that's what happened."
Case in point: At least nine cars attempting to cross rushing water over South Jones Boulevard either stalled or were in danger of being swept away by the fast-moving rainwater.
Although no one was hurt, tow trucks had to be called out to the area to pull several of the flooded vehicles onto dry land.
"One guy was bailing out water with a cup after his car got swamped with water," said Gene Alardid. "One little red Honda was totally submerged."
Alardid was working with a crew of workers from Las Vegas Paving who had been installing a drainage system several hundred yards from the site of the flooded road. He said he had been at the site for most of the afternoon.
"People think it's just surface water on the road, but after raining all day it cuts a three foot ditch into the road and ground," Alardid said. "When the little cars go through the water, they get off center and could be swept away."
In other cases around town, manhole covers were lifted by the rising water and vehicles suffered tire damage or got stuck in the open manholes.
Television reporters in traffic helicopters above the city reported seeing dozens of stalled vehicles around the valley.
Bobby Shelton, spokesman for Clark County Public Works, said, "You have people who drive around the barricades and take that chance, and then they have to be rescued or whatever the case may be."
The flooding, from rains beginning the night before, had completely covered a 15 to 20 foot stretch of South Jones Boulevard by Monday afternoon.
Jones, from I-215 to Robindale Road, was one of four roads closed in the area, including Rainbow Boulevard from Warm Springs Road to Robindale Road, Buffalo Drive from Warm Springs Road to Windmill Lane, and Jones Boulevard at Badura Avenue.
Debby Ackerman, a spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Public Works Department, said crews driving streetsweepers, front-end loaders and backhoes continued to clear away rocks and mud that washed into flooded roadways near Alexander Road in north Las Vegas and throughout new construction areas in southwest Las Vegas.
The city agency dedicated 40 crews to the clean-up effort, she said.
Ackerman estimated the clean-up has cost taxpayers $50,000 to $100,000, so far. The effort did not require additional funds, as the agency will postpone scheduled street-sweeping and clean-ups not brought on by weather, Ackerman said.
Sunday's and Monday's rain were enough to put the valley past the monthly and yearly rainfall averages, according to the National Weather Service.
The average yearly rainfall is 4.49 inches, said Andrew Gorelow, a meteorologist with the service. As of Monday night Las Vegas had received 4.62 inches.
The largest amount of rain fell nearer the mountains with 1.69 inches at the Las Vegas Wash and Pabco Road. Only 0.04 inches were officially recorded at McCarran International Airport. Eight inches of snow was reported at the top of Mount Charleston.
"It wasn't that we had a lot of rain," Gorelow said of the street flooding. "It was a lot of runoff from rain in the mountains, which was compounded by road construction."
Gorelow said the rain was the result of a low pressure system which was expected to be gone from the valley by today. More rain is not expected again until Thursday night, when weather service forecasters predict it could last into Friday.
Temperatures, he said, were and should remain normal with a high of 64 forecast for today and low of 48 expected tonight.
The Nevada Highway Patrol reported being called to 24 traffic collisions, twice the typical average, directly related to the weather conditions between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday throughout Clark County. None of those were fatal, Nevada Highway Patrol Sgt. Dave Dudley said.
"People fail to pay attention and they drive too fast," he said. "In Nevada because we don't get a lot of rain, the oil deposits from cars dries on the street, but when it rains the oil rises to the surface, mixes with the water and makes the roads very slippery."
On Sunday, there were 41 traffic accidents directly related to the weather, he said, adding that half of those accidents involved an injury.
Most of the automobile accidents on Sunday and Monday involved individuals losing control of their vehicles, hydroplaning over watery surfaces or rear-ending people because they drove too fast, Dudley said.
In one case, for example, 20-year-old Nolan Maier was left in critical condition at University Medical Center after his 1997 Toyota Camry slid off the rain-slick Sahara Avenue and wrapped around a light pole 325 feet west of Sloan Lane about 11:47 a.m. Monday.
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