Thursday, December 30, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Record amount of rain in valley leads to road closures, rash of accidents

A motorist disregards the advice of authorities and crosses a flooded area Wednesday on Washburn Road near Losee Road. A storm Tuesday and Wednesday dropped more than 2 inches of rain in some parts of the valley. Photo by Samantha Clemens. Kenji Nicolson sits on a hand railing Wednesday leading into a flooded drainage basin along Gowan Road near U.S. Highway 95. Photo by John Locher.

Road closures from one end of the valley to the other greeted morning commuters Wednesday, and so did traffic accidents.

"Let's just say motorists could use more care when they're on the road," said Nevada Highway Patrol trooper Angie Chavera.

As much as 2 1/2 inches of rain fell in parts of the valley between Tuesday and Wednesday, according to gauges monitored by the Regional Flood Control District.

The National Weather Service's official rain gauge at McCarran International Airport recorded 0.97 of an inch Tuesday, two hundredths more than the previous record for Dec. 28, set in 1977.

Another 1.13 inches was recorded at McCarran Wednesday. This smashed the prior record for rainfall on Dec. 29, which was 0.19 inches in 1994.

Scattered showers were forecast through the night.

Although there was no serious flash flooding, rainwater did cover roadways typically prone to flooding, such as the intersection of Warm Springs Road and Jones Boulevard.

The result: fender-benders everywhere, or what Chavera called "just tons of accidents."

"It's not unusual to see our accidents increase by 300 percent" when it's raining, said Las Vegas police Sgt. Tracy McDonald.

In any typical 24-hour period, state troopers and Las Vegas police work about 120 traffic accidents, according to the two agencies. But from Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning, they worked nearly 500. The Highway Patrol reported working 105, while police worked 392.

"Every area is affected by a storm like this," McDonald said. "It's not uncommon during a wet weather event for us to have as many as 40 accidents waiting to be investigated at any one time."

He explained that Las Vegas' streets get unusually slippery when it rains because it doesn't rain all that often. In a community that sees lots of rain, the roads would be periodically washed clean of oil and other debris.

But here, that debris builds up until, finally, the rain brings it to the surface.

"So when it does rain all that buildup gets wet and you have conditions similar to black ice," he said.

Chavera said there were troopers in town Wednesday who normally work in Reno and Elko, where snowstorms and icy roadways are common in the winter.

"They said, `We've driven in snow and ice and this rain is worse than that,' " Chavera said. "When it rains, treat it like it's ice."

Bob Leinbach, spokesman for the Clark County Fire Department, said it's typical for firefighters to work a slew of accidents, followed by responding to floods. That's what happened Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, he said.

"We were busy, obviously," he said.

Firefighters responded to 10 swift-water rescue calls Tuesday afternoon and evening, then 20 more after midnight Wednesday morning, he said. To the firefighters, none were all that dramatic, though they may have been to motorists involved, he said.

Some of those 30 calls involved checking out vehicles that were trapped in floodwaters but turned out to be empty. Others, he said, involved sending firefighters into the water with a safety rope attached to retrieve stuck motorists.

There were no reports of any injuries, he said.

The rain Tuesday and Wednesday was enough to make this the wettest December since record keeping began in 1937. Already the fourth wettest year on record, 2004 is on pace to surpass 1965, and its almost 8 inches of precipitation, for third on the list. The two wettest years on record are 1992 with 9.9 inches and 1941 with 10.7 inches.

The forecast for today and through the holiday weekend includes more rain in Las Vegas and snow in the Spring Mountains, where an extreme avalanche warning remains in effect.

The alert, issued Wednesday by the U.S. Forest Service, includes Kyle Canyon, Lee Canyon and Mount Charleston's backcountry areas but does not apply to the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort.

Elsewhere in Southern Nevada, this week's winter storms dumped about 2.5 inches of rain on Searchlight and about 2.4 inches on Overton, where the Nevada Department of Wildlife was forced to close its Overton Wildlife Management Area near Lake Mead Wednesday. Department officials have yet to determine when the hunting and wildlife viewing area will be able to reopen.

The storm also caused problems Wednesday in northwest Arizona, particularly the communities of Golden Valley and Kingman. Heavy rain and fierce winds flooded roads and streets and caused scattered power outages.

A number of commercial and public signs and trees were blown down and awnings and roofs were damaged at several dwellings. Storm damage also prompted the precautionary closure of the main Mohave County government complex in downtown Kingman.

County manager Ron Walker sent several dozen workers home early after a gust of wind shattered one of several glass panes that form the main entryway. Walker said he was worried that more of the glass would shatter as wind whipped through the building. No one was injured.

In Northern Nevada, a steady mixture of rain and snow through Wednesday was expected to turn to snow after nightfall. A snow advisory was posted for the valleys through this morning followed by a heavy snow warning this afternoon into Friday. Chains were required throughout the day over the Sierra.

"Snow will increase in the Sierra late tonight and continue in earnest through Friday morning," meteorologist Jane Hollingsworth said on Wednesday from the National Weather Service office in Reno. "Storm totals in the Sierra will be in the 4 to 6 foot range while lake level at Tahoe will end up with 2 to 4 feet."

Review-Journal writers Henry Brean, Brian Haynes, and Dave Hawkins, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.