Storm destroys home, floods streets

The home valued at $820,000 was destroyed when it was struck by lightning shortly after noon Thursday. Dozens of firefighters with the Henderson Fire Department arrived on the scene to find the home engulfed with smoke and flames.

Meanwhile, several trees were toppled at Palm Mortuary and Nevada Power Co. reported that power to about 30,000 customers on the east end of the valley was knocked out in the early afternoon.

National Weather Service meteorologist Ron McQueen said the bad weather began with a couple of weak showers and thunderclaps.

McQueen said the storm was compressed to an area two miles across at the most.

"We've reached that time," he said, "when we're subject to the intense summer monsoons. This is the kind of thing we could expect to see in the next one or two months."

Only .03 inch of rain was recorded at McCarran International Airport, the station where Las Vegas' official rainfall totals are tallied. But within a 40 minute period, rainfall at Henderson monitoring points measured between .98 inch and 1.14 inch.

archive