BLOWN SENSELESS

A battering northwest wind knocked out power, halted flights at McCarran International Airport and crumpled the bottom line of Las Vegas street vendors who saw their hearts and flowers carried away in Wednesday night's whipping gusts.

"We lost 20 percent of our merchandise," said Jason Earl of Kimera Group, which has nine Valentine's Day stands throughout Las Vegas.

"It's been windy all day, but it just suddenly went crazy."

Earl and his associates were sweeping up glass from shattered vases and trying to collect the roses and stuffed animals blown across the pavement of Decatur Boulevard and Sahara Avenue. All told, Earl said, his business lost about $15,000 in merchandise to wind damage.

"Right now, we plan on working all night to get to the point where we can open in the morning," Earl said Wednesday night.

National Weather Service meteorologist Clay Morgan said at 6:59 p.m., wind speeds at McCarran peaked at 67 mph. The winds moved over the valley with a cold front, causing temperatures to dive from 70 degrees to 54 degrees in one hour.

Las Vegans probably will be blown about today and Friday. Morgan said not to expect a return to warmer weather until the weekend.

"It is winter," Morgan said. "Now's the time we have strong winds."

Morgan saw evidence of that out of his office's south-facing window. As wind speeds picked up in the early evening, the lights at the Silverton, on Blue Diamond Road, blinked out.

Others were left in the dark Wednesday night.

Adam Grant, a spokesman for Nevada Power, said there were 18,000 households in Clark County without power at 9 p.m. The hardest-hit areas were North Las Vegas and the southeast valley.

The whipping winds also made for unfriendly skies.

Ian Gregor of the Federal Aviation Administration said between 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. departing flights were halted at McCarran, and the airport turned away incoming planes from airports within an hour's flight.

During that time, 20 flights were diverted to Phoenix, and other flights were routed to airports near Los Angeles, he said.

High winds also forced the postponement of the Southern Nevada girls soccer championship match between Centennial and Green Valley at Bettye Wilson Park. Minutes before the scheduled 6 p.m. start, and while team captains and game officials were meeting in the center of the field, the goal on the north end of the field flipped over. Soccer goals typically weigh in excess of 150 pounds.

Strong winds blew over other heavy objects. A construction barrier in front of the Showcase Mall on the Strip tipped. Large trees were uprooted in Henderson, and a sign at a Denny's restaurant on Fremont Street was destroyed.

Air quality officials issued a dust advisory late Wednesday that extends through today, warning residents that strong winds could stir up unhealthful levels of particulate matter.

Officials are sending notices to construction sites asking them to take precautions to prevent blowing dust. Airborne dust is a type of air pollution that when inhaled can aggravate respiratory diseases.

Air quality officials ask that motorists drive slowly on unpaved roads and avoid taking short cuts across vacant lots.

Review-Journal writers Keith Rogers, Antonio Planas and Bartt Davis contributed to this report. Contact reporter Lisa Kim Bach at lbach @reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0287.