Weather woes continue

Mary Manning and Eric Leake

Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005 | 11:23 a.m.

As Clark County emergency crews responded to avalanches in the mountains west of Las Vegas and flooding in the northeast part of the county, County Manager Thom Reilly declared an emergency Tuesday morning.

The 10:45 a.m. declaration will speed up equipment and manpower response to any rescue efforts needed, Reilly said, as the county entered its second day of dealing with the aftermath to a series of winter storms that walloped the Southwest.

Under clear blue skies and winds gusting to 47 miles per hour, Las Vegas motorists discovered floodwaters from melting Spring Mountain snows flowing across urban streets as officials closed numerous roads, primarily in the southwest of the valley during rush hour traffic.

Clark County Fire Department swift water teams responded to 14 rescues Tuesday, helping motorists to escape from their stalled cars, fire department spokesman Bob Leinbach said. Roads filled with water, rocks, mud and debris in moments.

This morning emergency crews and police continued to complain about motorists driving around barricades and getting stuck, then calling for help.

"The few minutes you might think you're saving is not worth being trapped in your vehicle," Leinbach warned motorists.

Luckily there were no injuries during the rescues Tuesday, Leinbach said.

The county on Tuesday called on the National Guard for sandbags and for emergency air support.

The National Guard delivered 50,000 sandbags on top of the 6,000 supplied by the county to Mesquite and Overton, where rivers overflowed their banks.

The National Weather Service reported a total of 1.51 inches of rain in Las Vegas for the month. Normally at this time of year rainfall is 0.09 of an inch. Average annual rainfall is 4.49 inches for the valley.

A National Guard helicopter helped county officials assess the upstream dangers along the Muddy River draining into Moapa Valley, 45 miles northeast of Las Vegas, and the Virgin River, flowing into Mesquite, 75 miles northeast of the city, to help the downstream communities prepare for further flooding.

Reilly said he had talked to the governor's office, but not to Gov. Kenny Guinn himself.

"We have not requested federal assistance yet," Reilly said.

The county, through the governor, could ask the federal government for emergency funding for damages. President Clinton granted the county $20.5 million in disaster relief after a July 1999 storm inundated the valley.

The National Weather Service issued an urban and small stream advisory for all of western Las Vegas from 4 p.m. Tuesday to 2 a.m. today, meteorologist Larry Jensen said.

County Public Works, Metro and the Nevada Highway Patrol tried to keep barricades in place south of Interstate 215 at Rainbow Boulevard, Durango Drive and Jones and Decatur boulevards.

Motorists kept driving around the barriers, Public Works spokesman Bobby Shelton said. "Then they can't get out and are trapped," he said.

At Warm Springs and Interstate 215 a passing motorist pulled a woman from her small car after the front end dipped into rushing water.

Multiple road closures made it difficult for Sheri Spurlock to get to Sierra Vista High School on Rainbow and pick up her niece, sophomore Dawn Shelton. So Shelton hiked through the desert to open road at I-215.

"This is absolutely absurd. How are you supposed to get your kids?" Spurlock said. "I told her, 'Don't walk through the water because it's fast and deep.' "

Shelton said the hike took her 40 minutes. She arrived with mud-caked shoes and muck up to her ankles. "It was like a mini Colorado River," Shelton said. "It was rushing pretty good."

The Clark County School District said flooding also delayed southwest students going home by bus.

Water depths varied at intersections from inches to more than a foot as runoff from the Spring Mountains poured through the valley and continued into the night.

Flood control basins and channels were operating as they were designed to do, Regional Flood Control District Manager Gale Fraser said.

The basins built since the mid-1980s capture floodwaters after heavy rainfall, typically from July through September. The weeklong rain and snowfall in Southern Nevada developed after tropical moisture from the Hawaiian Islands streamed across the Southwest.

As temperatures warmed Tuesday, melting snow from the Spring Mountains and showers through Monday added to the runoff.

The flood control district had problems receiving data from a monitoring network extending into outlying areas, Fraser said.

A relay monitor on Mount Potosi was not sending information from outer areas of the valley, such as the Spring Mountains, Overton and Mesquite, to the regional flood control district, Fraser said.

"We think snow may have covered the solar panels," Fraser said.

Flood control district workers and public works employees teamed up to monitor water flowing across the valley and into the basins. No one could reach the relay station on the mountain because of heavy snows and runoff.

The Red Rock Detention Basin filled to 35 feet deep, but had another 15 feet of space ready to capture more water, Fraser said.

"The Red Rock Basin has never been that full before," Fraser said. The water came from heavy rainfall.

A rain gauge at the Red Rock Canyon Visitor's Center recorded three inches of precipitation since Sunday, which contributed to the flooding.

Flood district and public works crews are closely monitoring the Red Rock Detention Basin because if there are any breaches in the sides of the basin crews will have to respond immediately, Fraser said.

Meanwhile some of the other detention basins around town still had plenty of space available for more water. The Blue Diamond Detention Basin southwest of Las Vegas covers 100 acres and is 50 feet deep. That detention basin held about 15 feet of water at its peak.

A channel and storm drain is under construction on Durango Drive to intercept mountain flows, regional flood control district spokeswoman Betty Hollister said. The should be complete in time for the summer rains, she said.

The Durango channel is part of a flood control network that gradually drains water across the valley where floodwaters eventually drain into the Las Vegas Wash and then Lake Mead.

It will take 30 years and another $1.7 billion before the valley's flood control projects are completed.

One component of the valley's flood control and drainage system, however, is valley streets, which are designed to channel runoff. In a desert city that usually gets so little rain, it doesn't make fiscal sense to overspend a on gutter and drainage systems that come into play so infrequently, officials have said.

But people have to get around town even when the streets are flooded, Tom Smith said after he pulled into CJ's Food Mart on Jones and Robindale.

His mud-splattered Honda Civic resembled a Jackson Pollock canvas. Smith said the roadways were like rivers. He recently moved to Las Vegas from Los Angeles and had been watching the floods there on television.

"I was kind of happy I don't live there right now," Smith said. "This is nothing compared to other places, but it's still an inconvenience."

CJ's manager Brian Mielnicki said the new gas station and market had been busy all day selling car washes.

"Everybody's been coming here because they can't go anywhere. They come down here and go home," Mielnicki said.

Yazmin Ramirez pulled in to check the tires on her Ford Focus. "I hit some big rocks," she explained.

Ramirez said she was afraid to cross flooded streets as her car could get stuck, but did so anyway because there was nowhere else to go.

She echoed other southwest valley residents who said the construction of homes in the area had outpaced that of public works.

"Shouldn't there be something more? For the last two years it's flooded here hardcore," said Tyler Drake, who grew up in the southwest.

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