Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
SOUTHERN NEVADA STORM: Winter now wettest on record
Airport gauge has collected 5.95 inches of rain since Dec. 21, eclipsing amount seen in '92-'93
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Eleven-year-old Tyler Newton, left, falls into rushing water while playing Monday with his 10-year-old brother, Coby, in northwest Las Vegas. Parts of northwest Las Vegas received more than 2 1/2 inches of rainfall, pushing the Las Vegas Valley to a rainfall record for the winter.
Photo by Craig L. Moran.
Flooding prompts police to close Alexander Road to westbound traffic at Durango Drive on Monday. The Lone Mountain Detention Basin pushed a steady stream of water onto the road.
Photo by Clint Karlsen.
Jerry Saperstein walks to his car Monday after shopping at the SmithÕs supermarket at Lake Mead and Rampart boulevards.
Photo by Clint Karlsen.
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An already soggy Las Vegas winter became the wettest on record Monday after a storm moved through Southern Nevada, dropping more than two inches of rain in some parts of the valley and leaving flooded and slick roadways.
Wet roads contributed to dozens of accidents and might have played a role in two crashes that killed a total of three people, the Nevada Highway Patrol said.
A half inch of rain fell at McCarran International Airport on Monday. Between Dec. 21 and Monday, 5.95 inches of rain were recorded at the airport, a new record for that period.
It eclipsed the 5.86 inches that fell during the same months spanning 1992 and 1993, National Weather Service meteorologist Andrew Gorelow said.
During an average February, Las Vegas gets about 0.69 inches of rain, Gorelow said. This February has seen more than 1.75 inches of rain.
Forecasters predict more rain today, with a high temperature of 58 degrees.
While some might be tempted to complain, Gorelow offered this advice: Cherish it.
"I think that people realize we need the rain because we've been in a drought for so long," he said. "The rain really hasn't caused that many problems in town. And the lake level (at Lake Mead) has risen roughly 13 feet since October, so that has certainly helped."
By late Monday afternoon, eight inches of snow had fallen on Mount Charleston, the Las Vegas Ski & Snow resort said.
The rain caused some flooding and might have contributed to a pair of fatal crashes.
One of those accidents happened before 8 a.m. on U.S. Highway 93 in Lincoln County; the other unfolded on Interstate 15 at about 3:25 a.m., when a semi-truck driver failed to negotiate a curvy stretch near Washington Avenue, struck a concrete wall and then burst into flames, said Highway Patrol Sgt. Michael Nihei.
The truck exited the roadway and plunged into a tree-lined area near the D Street onramp, killing a man and a woman in the big rig, Nihei said.
The crash was caused by "the wet conditions and the driver driving too fast," Nihei said. "In the rain, you've got to slow down," and he didn't, Nihei said.
The accident investigation and cleanup snarled I-15 northbound traffic for more than seven hours.
The identities of the deceased were unavailable Monday.
The neighborhood hardest hit by rain was the Lone Mountain area, which received nearly 2 1/2 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service.
Betty Hollister, spokeswoman for Clark County Regional Flood Control District, said the downpour created havoc for commuters on Alexander Road east of Grand Canyon and minor flooding on Farm Road southeast of the Mount Charleston area.
The Lone Mountain Detention Basin, which pushed a steady stream of water onto Alexander Road Monday morning, was working properly, according to officials. It was designed to take in large amounts of rainfall and to slowly release water on to the road, Hollister said.
The water flows onto the road because there isn't a flood-control channel in the area yet, Hollister said. Crews have begun building an underground flood-control channel along Alexander. Within six to eight months the channel will collect water from the Lone Mountain Detention Basin and keep it off the road, Hollister said.
Flooding Monday wasn't nearly as heavy as last month on Jones Boulevard, Durango Drive, Rainbow Boulevard and Warm Springs Road south of the Las Vegas Beltway in the southwest Las Vegas Valley, said Gale Fraser, general manager of the Flood Control District.
A flood-control channel under construction on Durango Drive has already started catching more water as it flows east from the Red Rock Detention Basin near Red Rock Canyon, he said.
The extended forecast calls for overcast skies in Las Vegas from Wednesday to Friday with only a 20 percent chance of rain.
