Still reeling from floods, state’s rural residents brace for more

Stephen Curran

Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2005 | 9:33 a.m.

Overton residents Bud and Carol Webber have barely begun rebuilding their lives after flood waters last month gutted their two-story home and threatened their beloved horses.

They're still living in a rented house nearby and expect it will be at least three more months until they can return to the farmhouse-style home on Cooper Road they shared with their 10-year-old daughter.

But on Monday afternoon, the couple was forced to watch as water began creeping up their driveway, an unsettling reminder of what brought last month's devastation.

This time, Webber doesn't see the point in placing sandbags in front of the family's home.

"It's running all over my driveway, but it couldn't hurt me much more," he said. "It always makes you nervous and then it runs over the road and makes you more nervous, but I don't have enough put back to really worry about it."

The light rain that prompted a flood advisory Monday afternoon brought pools of water that appeard on Overton's Cooper Road, the site of much of the worst flooding last month and the street where the Webbers' home sits. In nearby Logandale, the National Weather Service reported about 4 inches of water across Gubler Avenue.

Both roadways were designed as water "crossings" to safely let water from the Muddy River flow beneath them, said Gale Fraser, general manager of the Clark County Regional Flood Control District.

Once water crosses the road, as it did on the two northeast county roads, it becomes a "cause for concern," he said.

By 5:45 this morning, no significant property damage had been reported in the flood-ravaged town of 4,000 people about 60 miles northeast of Las Vegas, but the Weather Service predicted the heavy runoff from Monday's rain to continue.

While county engineers were monitoring the water, Fraser said he did not expect major problems.

"Anytime it rains people should keep an eye out (for flooding)," Fraser said. "It's hard to tell what's ultimately going to happen, but it seems that it will stay quiet."

It's the kind of uncertainty Webber feels almost every time he returns to his home, which last week had running water restored.

By Monday afternoon, Webber and his wife were waiting on more than $350,000 from their insurance company to finish rebuilding their home. He estimated they have spent almost $50,000 of their savings so far on the refurbishment.

Webber complained that the insurance company is "as bad as" the state and federal agencies that have yet to help him and many of his neighbors.

"That water came through here with a lot of fury. You'd think they could just send us a check now for the $50,000. They don't even want to loan it to us. I could use the money right now. This just kicked me right in the teeth."

About 40 miles north of the Moapa Valley in Mesquite, volunteers and city officials began surveying the nearby Virgin River on Friday at the first sign of moisture, Mesquite Mayor Bill Nicholes said.

The city of 16,000 was devastated last month after water from the river tore through the town, leaving a path of gutted homes in its wake.

All told, the damage from the January floods on the Virgin and Muddy rivers caused between $5 million and $10 million in damage, state and federal disaster officials said.

Meanwhile the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services and Bureau of Land Management criticized Nicholes and other Mesquite leaders, and at least one environmental advocacy group threatened a lawsuit earlier this month after the city used bulldozers and explosives to channel the river in hopes of preventing future floods.

Ecologists from the two groups said the measures threatened at least five endangered species of birds and fish.

The mayor on Monday said he and others were watching primarily for rising waters and blockages that could cause the river to flood its banks. By 8 a.m. today, the slight rain did not appear to pose any harm, he said.

"It's been a little bit of rain all day, but we're in no imminent danger of overflow," Nicholes said. "Of course we're concerned about it, but we're just looking to the heavens."