Rain is expected to continue

Mary Manning and Stephen Curran

Friday, Feb. 11, 2005 | 10:15 a.m.

A steady rain is expected to keep falling on the Las Vegas Valley today and has already been blamed for at least two tractor-trailer rollovers this morning, according to the Nevada Highway Patrol.

The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for Southern Nevada from 6 a.m. today until 4 a.m. Saturday, meteorologist Steven Downs said.

No significant flooding was reported this morning, but the 0.71 inch of rain reported at McCarran International Airport since midnight contributed to two accidents on Interstate 15 today that clogged the lanes in both directions for almost four miles, Trooper Angie Chavera, an NHP spokeswoman, said.

By 8 this morning, NHP had responded to 15 crashes, none of which were serious. The number is typical for a Friday, although the continued rain will likely cause that number to rise, she said.

"If people don't realize they should slow down, we're going to have our big wrecks again," Chavera said.

The first truck, believed to be carrying a shipment of computers, overturned near the D Street offramp about 4 a.m. and slowed traffic to a crawl as far south as the Spring Mountain Road exit, Chavera said.

Speed was also blamed for a second truck crash about 7:45 a.m., Chavera said. A tractor-trailer jacknifed on I-15 near the Cheyenne Avenue exit.

The storm is expected to drop almost another full inch on Southern Nevada.