Report to aid flood control experts

When thunderstorms form over the Las Vegas Valley this summer, flood control experts will have a record of past flash floods thanks to a report by the U.S. Geological Survey.

USGS Hydrologist Glen Hess has published 35 years of peak flows in Nevada, showing eight major floods striking the Las Vegas Valley from 1963 through 1984.

The Southern Nevada floods occurred in the western, southern and eastern parts of the valley, according to the USGS report.

The largest flood the USGS found happened on July 3, 1975, when waters raced through the valley, sweeping away 300 cars parked in Caesars Palace hotel-casino parking lot.

That flood also killed two North Las Vegas Public Works Department employees as raging waters roared down the Las Vegas Wash. The workers were trying to remove debris from a plugged storm drain.

Since 1960, the area has experienced at least seven "million-dollar floods," meaning each event has damaged public and private property at amounts totaling more than a $1 million. In the same time period, 22 people have died in nine separate flash flood events.

For Gale Fraser, director of Clark County's Regional Flood Control District, it's never too early to warn Las Vegas residents about the dangers from flash floods.

Rain may never fall in the valley, but normal dry washes turn into rampaging rivers of muddy water when thunderstorms pound surrounding mountain ranges June through September, he said.

During the summer months in Southern Nevada the Regional Flood Control District official warns people to be aware of the dangers from sudden storms.

"Flash floods have occurred in every month, but June through September is our typical flash flood season," Fraser said. Serious, localized thunderstorms can tear through a community in minutes.

Radio and television emergency broadcasts will be the first to alert residents. "Stay high, stay dry and stay alive," Fraser said. Never drive through flood waters in the road, he added.

The flood controls in place so far are the result of serious floods in the 1980s, Fraser said. "Today we are pro-active," he said.

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