Cars detoured around flood-damaged I-15 at Valley of Fire

By Pashtana Usufzy

Published Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014 | 8:45 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2014 | 11:42 a.m.

Authorities have opened a route through Nevada's Valley of Fire State Park to passenger vehicles detouring around a flood-damaged section of Interstate 15.

Trucks traveling between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City are still required to use a roundabout detour between Exit 64 in Nevada and Exit 59 in Utah.

That route uses U.S. 93, Nevada State Route 319, and Utah State Route 56 through Panaca, Nevada, and Cedar City, Utah.

The Nevada Highway Patrol says I-15 passenger vehicles can use Nevada State Route 169 and Valley of Fire Road between Exits 75 and 93.

State Route 167, or Northshore Drive in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, also connects with Route 169 near Overton.

Flash flooding Monday washed out a stretch of I-15 around Exit 90 near Moapa.

A disaster assessment team from the state, meanwhile, arrived this morning and was headed to Moapa Valley with Clark County emergency management personnel to assess flood damage, county spokeswoman Stacey Welling said.

The team was expected to arrive by about noon in Overton and was scheduled to head to a subdivision where there are reports of about 30 homes that sustained flood damage, Welling said. Some of the homes have been largely inaccessible because of water and mud, she said.

A day after after the pouring rains and flash flooding closed a 50-mile stretch of heavily traveled Interstate 15 when soggy pavement crumbled, Gov. Brian Sandoval on Tuesday declared a state of emergency for Clark County and the Moapa Band of Paiutes Reservation.

Issued at 5:05 p.m. Tuesday, the declaration will allow local governments to qualify for state and federal assistance, according to a media release from the governor's office.

It will also allow the state to expedite its response to requests from local jurisdictions.

Earlier Tuesday, the Clark County Commission — seeking funding for disaster cleanup — announced it would consider a resolution at a Sept. 16 meeting to declare a state of emergency because of the flooding in Moapa, Moapa Valley and Sandy Valley.

Welling said the governor's declaration won't affect the County Commission's effort to pass a resolution.

The declarations are independent and are a matter of protocol to obtain assistance, Welling said.

Repairs on a single one-mile stretch of I-15 between the Glendale and Logandale exits are expected to cost roughly $2 million, Nevada Department of Transportation officials said.

As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, first responders still could not reach some residential areas on the reservation due to flooding and road damage, according to the governor's office.

“My thoughts and prayers are with those who have been and remain affected by the floodwaters," Sandoval said in a statement. "My office will continue to monitor the situation and I have requested continual updates. The Nevada Department of Emergency Management and Department of Transportation have engaged with local authorities and will remain on site with local responders."

The sun was out Tuesday in Moapa, where officials had feared that rushing water would overwhelm the banks of the swollen Muddy and Virgin rivers.

"We saw it right at the cusp and it didn't go over," said Erin Neff, spokeswoman for the Clark County Regional Flood Control District. "It's a near-miss."

At least 30 homes in nearby Overton were flooded, and Clark County firefighters counted 18 rescues in the area, many involving submerged cars.

"I've been in this area since 1978. We've never had water like that before," said David Muns, a resident of Moapa, where more than four inches of rain fell in two hours.

Transportation officials said a stretch of I-15 near Moapa could be closed for three to four days while they repair pavement that crumbled into slabs over muddy red dirt. One shattered section stretched for half a mile.

Traffic was diverted along detours that added time and miles for the 20,000 vehicles a day that travel the highway connecting Las Vegas and Salt Lake City.

Truck driver Randy Garca of Calhan, Colorado, said he hit a standstill Monday afternoon and didn't get rolling again until the next morning.

"We were hungry so we set up a barbecue," he said by phone from Cedar City, Utah.

Union Pacific Railroad service was suspended while crews repaired track near Moapa that was undermined and washed out by flash flooding. Officials hoped to have the track bed and rails repaired by Wednesday for freight service to resume on the busy Las Vegas-to-Salt Lake City main line.

On an I-15 overpass in the Moapa area, police officer Shanan Kelly said he and several construction workers helped rescue a woman who was swept into rushing water from the top of her minivan.

"It was very heroic and awesome," Kelly said.

Forty-two people were evacuated from a middle school and high school in Moapa and spent Monday night in a building at Clark County fairgrounds. Churches provided blankets, and a store and restaurant donated food before police escorted the people over the damaged I-15, Welling said.

About 190 people were evacuated from the Moapa Band of Paiutes reservation after tribal officials warned that waters were close to breaching a Muddy River dam. Officials were assessing damage to properties with leaky roofs and wet floors where water breached flood control channels.

"We had rivers running through people's yards. But as far as property damage to homes themselves, I think we fared pretty well," said Sherryl Patterson, administrator at the tribal office.

National Weather Service meteorologist Charlotte Dewey warned that any additional precipitation in the Southwest could quickly cause new flooding because the ground is saturated.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.