Dust devil bangs up mobile home park

Kyle Hansen

Matthew Stewart helps his mom, Jill, pack books in the damaged portion of Bruce and Dianna Smith’s home after a dust devil damaged homes in Gingerwood Mobile Home Park in Boulder City.

By Kyle Hansen (contact)

Monday, May 11, 2009 | 7:36 p.m.

High winds caused thousands of dollars of damages to homes in and around Gingerwood Mobile Home Park on the edge of Boulder City this afternoon.

Police Chief Thomas Finn called the event “a dust devil on steroids.”

“It was a twister, really strong,” said Bruce Smith, whose mobile home was the first to be hit as the dust devil struck the southeast section of the community.

“It looked just like a movie tornado. Everything was pulled off. Stuff was being sucked right up.”

The storm pulled most of the roof off a 24-foot-long side room that had been added onto the mobile home.

The roofing material was blown over two other homes before being blown into another, penetrating a wall and shattering a window.

Weather conditions — the right combination of heat and wind — were perfect for a dust devil today, National Weather Service spokesman Brian Fuis said. Winds were about 10 mph, with gusts to 21 mph at McCarran International Airport, he said.

Finn said police received a call about 3:30 p.m. about the wind damage, but no evacuation was required. No injuries were reported.

“It just passed through,” he said. “By the time we got the call, it was gone.”

The wind left one trailer uninhabitable, Finn said, and loose objects in people’s yards were thrown through a couple of trailers’ exterior walls.

A fast-moving dust devil can move large objects and cause damage, Fuis said.

“The whole house was just totally engulfed,” said Bruce Smith’s wife, Dianna. She had just gone inside her house five minutes before the dust devil hit. “The whole house shook, just shook and shook and shook.”

Russ Nixon of RT&E Mobile Home Service estimated that it would cost about $10,000 to repair the side room and roof of the Smiths' mobile home.

Six homes in the park were damaged. Additional homes on the other side of Gingerwood Street had exterior damage, primarily to carports and awnings.

Darrell Keele and his landlady, Cindy Ford, spent an hour cleaning up the debris in his yard on Potosi Street.

Part of the awning over the back of the house was blown off, as was most of the covering for the carport. One sheet of metal roofing was blown around the house and split when it hit a rail on the front porch banister, Keele said.

“All in all, the only real damage is the awning. It didn’t hit the windows or anything. It could have real easily,” he said.

City building inspector Charlie Armour drove around the neighborhood assessing damage and reminding residents that permits are required to replace awnings and carports.

Myra Davis and her husband, JD, were awaiting word from their insurance company before beginning to clean up their carport, which was blown over.

“We don’t even know if we’re covered,” she said. “Most of it was put up by my dad and my husband, so we’re just waiting for the phone call. And we’re just hoping that the roof is OK.

"I’m just so glad nobody was out here and nobody was hurt.”

Jean Reid Norman contributed to this report.