Published Friday, July 29, 2022 | 9:25 a.m.
Updated Friday, July 29, 2022 | 3:22 p.m.
The Las Vegas area is expected to be hit with more scattered thunderstorms today, according to the National Weather Service’s Las Vegas office.
The forecast comes on the heels of a storm Thursday night that brought an inch of rain, wind gusts over 70 mph and flooded some properties on the Strip. Additionally, about 7,000 Nevada Energy customers in the central valley were briefly left without power, the utility said.
“We’re getting right into the heart of the most active part” of monsoon season, said John Adair, a veteran meteorologist at the weather service office near Harry Reid International Airport. “This is turning out to be a pretty active monsoon season, compared with the last five years or so. There’s plenty of more opportunities for thunderstorms to develop.”
The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada reported via Twitter at least four crashes on area highways during the storm, which started about 10 p.m. Thursday.
The Clark County Regional Flood Control District said that water depth had risen to over 16 feet in the Tropicana Detention Basin near Russell Road and Decatur Boulevard.
Social media posts showed flooding inside Planet Hollywood and Caesars Palace on the Strip, as well as at Circa Sports and the Golden Gate in downtown Las Vegas. Online posts indicated light flooding at the Fremont Street Experience.
The flooding at the Circa sports book — Vegas’ largest book with 1,000 seats spread over three floors and a 78 million-pixel screen — was quickly mopped up by workers. On social media, property officials continued to promote its NFL handicapping contest: “Just to confirm, the $12 million in guaranteed prizes for #CircaSportsMillion and #CircaSurvivor were not washed away or otherwise affected by tonight’s storm and flooding.”
“A night we’ll never forget,” Circa owner Derek Stevens said in a Twitter post.
“Last night’s weather took Vegas by storm and we were no exception,” Stevens said Friday. “But the show must go on and I’m happy to share that repairs are underway.”
Roped-off sports book seats were expected to reopen during the weekend, he said.
While only 0.3 inch of rain was registered at the Las Vegas airport late Thursday, more than 1 inch fell just a mile away at UNLV, Adair said.
Wind gusts peaked at 71 mph and toppled trees. Pea-sized hail fell from lightning-streaked skies in Henderson, where almost 1 inch of rain fell in some areas.
Police, county and city officials and the weather service said no injuries or widespread damage was reported.
Rapid runoff from sunbaked lots flooded street intersections, prompting vehicles to creep through high water near Las Vegas Boulevard and Main Street. Flood-control channels turned to roiling torrents.
Las Vegas firefighters responded to 330 calls for service and swift-water teams rescued seven people between 9 p.m. and midnight, city spokesman Jace Radke said. Clark County firefighters responded to six water rescue calls, county spokeswoman Stacey Welling said.
Conditions were favorable for scattered thunderstorms to develop over central Nevada Friday afternoon, moving into Clark County Friday evening, according to the weather service. About 1.4 inches of rain were forecast for most of the county.
The main threat will be strong or damaging winds, with gusts up to 70 mph, the weather service said. Localized flash flooding is possible, but should not be extensive because of the fast-moving nature of the storm, the weather service said.
Most and unstable air will remain over much of the region through the weekend and into next week, with the possibility of more heavy rain, flooding and strong winds, the weather service said.
The high humidity should hold temperatures down. The high temperature Saturday through Monday is expected to be 99, with a chance of thunderstorms each day.
Adair said the Las Vegas area usually receives around 4.2 inches of rain per year, but the official measuring station at the airport has recorded less than 0.7 inch this year.
The surface level at the region’s drought-stricken water supply — the Lake Mead reservoir behind Hoover Dam on the Colorado River — has dropped to less than 30%.
While runoff from storms in the Las Vegas area will reach the lake, monsoon moisture is not likely to affect the ongoing regional drought, Adair said.
“For that, we generally rely on the winter season, where we get multiple Pacific storms coming in and covering a wide area with rain and snow,” the meteorologist said. “That can make a significant impact on drought.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
