Friday, July 29, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
NATURE ROARS: Storms lash LV; fire rages at Red Rock
Lightning blamed in blaze, outage that trapped test site workers underground
By BRIAN HAYNES and KEITH ROGERS
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Thunderstorms rumbled through the Las Vegas Valley Thursday afternoon, bringing lightning, heavy showers and some street flooding.
Lightning was blamed for a small wildfire near Red Rock Canyon and a power outage at the Nevada Test Site that left more than 50 workers stranded underground for nearly an hour.
The heaviest rains started about 5 p.m. in the southeast part of the valley and moved steadily to the north, cutting across the Strip and through Summerlin.
Rainfall in Green Valley totaled two-thirds of an inch.
Interstate 15 at Oakey Boulevard had about a third of an inch, while parts of the northwest registered about a half inch of rain.
The north and southwest ends of the valley had little or no rainfall.
Some streets were partially flooded during the storm, but no major road closures were reported.
The onramp from eastbound Flamingo Road to northbound U.S. Highway 95 was closed, however, because of the flooding.
The wildfire near Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area started before 3 p.m. with a lightning strike on Blue Diamond Hill, which sits between the canyon and Las Vegas.
The fire burned about 25 acres.
At the test site, 57 workers were stranded for nearly an hour below ground after lightning from an intense thunderstorm knocked out power to the facility where scientists conduct subcritical nuclear experiments. No experiments were under way at the time.
"Nobody was injured, and nobody was hurt," said Kevin Rohrer, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration.
The outage occurred at the U1a complex, 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas, where workers are shuttled by elevator to a network of tunnels about 960 feet below the surface.
"In all likelihood, lightning hit something, which caused a power surge, which caused the outage," Rohrer said.
The power went out at 1:15 p.m., but electrical maintenance crews restored it by about 2 p.m.
The forecast calls for possible thunderstorms and high temperatures in the low 100s through early next week.
