Winds slash through valley

Tuesday, May 17, 2005 | 11:10 a.m.

The last thing 41-year-old George Espinoza expected while he showered Monday afternoon was a tree crashing through his bathroom ceiling.

But that is what happened when winds gusting over 50 mph raked the Las Vegas Valley.

Espinoza was treated at University Medical Center for a displaced disc in his neck and released, but returned to the hospital Monday night complaining of numbness and dizziness. He wanted to return to work as a carpenter this morning, but has to have further tests at UMC.

Espinoza's son, 19-year-old George Jr., was in the house at the time and said his father was dazed after a 2-by-4 board struck him in the head. The rest of the family, two sisters, 11-year-old Evelyn and 18-year-old Liliana, mother and grandfather all live in the house.

One minute the 35-year-old elm tree in Paul Guerrero's backyard stood in the wind, but while he went to pick up his two daughters from school on Monday, the 60-foot tree was uprooted and crashed through his neighbor's roof.

"I wasn't gone 15 minutes, and there was a gentleman standing in the window next door holding his head," Guerrero said. "The tree was in his house and he was soaking wet."

The tree, its trunk "as big as a Volkswagen," Guerrero said, had him worried even before the storm swept through the valley. A month ago winds broke power lines next door to their home, said Kristy Guerrero, Paul's wife.

For Guerrero's daughters, 7-year-old Shannyah and 6-year-old Paulina, the uprooted tree was scary.

"The 7-year-old thinks there's an earthquake coming," Paul Guerrero said.

Espinoza's shower was not the only thing interrupted by the winds. Downed trees and power lines caused havoc with traffic signals and also knocked out electricity to 7,000 Nevada Power Co. customers, Nevada Power spokeswoman Sonya Headen said.

A gust of wind knocked down an overhead powerline at Bonanza Road and F Street about 4 p.m. that blacked out traffic signals at D Street and Interstate 15 and Washington Avenue at Martin Luther King Boulevard, Headen said.

Another outage occurred near Sahara Avenue and Nellis Boulevard, and a third occurred in the Southern Highlands in the far southwest valley, Headen said.

The winds reached 52 mph at McCarran International Airport, and a gust of 60 mph was clocked at the south end of the valley. Red Rock Canyon also experienced winds of 62 mph.

At Eastern Avenue and Patrick Lane, a small pole with a crosswalk sign fell into the street, a Metro Police officer reported. Wires were exposed and Clark County Public Works was called.

Monday morning blowing winds may have contributed to two minor boating accidents on Lake Mead, National Park Service spokeswoman Roxanne Dey said. In two separate incidents, boaters were blown against the shoreline, Dey said, "sort of fender benders on the lake."

No injuries were reported in those accident, the Park Service said.

The National Weather Service predicted a high of 81 degrees today before a warming trend begins for the rest of the week.

Monday's low of 76 degrees was the warmest low temperature on record for May 16, the Weather Service said, until the thermometer dropped to 70 at 11 p.m. The previous record low was 74 degrees set in 1997.

Winds were expected to blow between 10 mph and 20 mph today, in contrast to Monday's blast.