Cost to clean up after weekend storms could reach $500,000

By Jackie Valley

Published Monday, Aug. 26, 2013 | 9:22 a.m.

Updated Monday, Aug. 26, 2013 | 4:40 p.m.

The cost of cleaning up after Sunday’s storms, which washed a significant amount of debris onto northwest valley roadways, could be as much as $500,000, Las Vegas officials said Monday morning.

City of Las Vegas crews are continuing to clear up the debris, which was causing problems on roadways this morning. Authorities have asked motorists to avoid the following streets north of Grand Teton Drive: Fort Apache Road, El Capitan Way and Durango Drive.

Authorities have shut down Farm Road from Tenaya Way to Jones Boulevard. Motorists also should be aware of heavy debris on Cliff Shadows Parkway and Lone Mountain Road.

In North Las Vegas, Aliante Parkway has been closed between Specula Drive and Grand Teton Drive while crews clean up debris from Sunday's storm. City officials said the road will likely be closed until Tuesday afternoon and advised residents accessing neighborhoods north of Grand Teton Drive to use Decatur Avenue as an alternate route.

Earlier this morning, city officials asked motorists to avoid Grand Teton Drive east of Durango Drive and west of U.S. 95 because of street flooding. Flash floods had brought ash and soot from the Mount Charleston wildfire down to the roadways, causing a slippery mixture of water, ash and soot. Driving through it could emulate driving on ice.

Flash floods carried away so much dirt near Kyle Canyon Road (State Route 157) that a patch of the state route collapsed, Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Jeremie Elliott said.

Crews from the Nevada Department of Transportation are at the scene, near mile marker 17, trying to assess damage and begin repairs, but the weather has not been cooperating, Elliott said. Repairs likely will take several days.

Only Mount Charleston residents will be allowed on State Route 157 as repair work is done to the damaged roadway, NDOT officials said.

NDOT workers have transformed the damaged portion of the state route into a one-lane roadway with flaggers and the Nevada Highway Patrol directing traffic. State Route 157 could open Thursday, depending on how weather affects progress the next few days.

“That’s a pretty major repair,” Elliott said. “They’re not just patching a hole.”

Early Monday afternoon, NDOT announced it had also closed a portion of Oso Blanca Road — between state Route 157 and the Horse Drive interchange — because of safety issues.

NDOT officials said that stretch of road has damage such as compromised road shoulders and weakened pavement. It’s unclear when it will reopen.

Parents of students attending Arbor View High School began picking up their children at 1:15 p.m. today, school officials announced this afternoon.

Buses picked up children at the school’s normal dismissal time of 2:10 p.m., but as bus drivers encountered impassable roads on their routes, the students living in those areas were to be returned to the high school, where parents would pick them up, school officials said.

School officials said to consider the dismissal plans a “fluid situation” as it was unknown which streets might be open or closed.

Meanwhile, U.S. 95 has been closed at State Route 163 near Laughlin due to flooding in California near Interstate 40. Residents in Laughlin and Searchlight are advised to take alternate routes, the Nevada Department of Transportation said.

A flash flood watch remains in effect until 8 p.m. today, said Chris Stumpf, a meteorologist in the Las Vegas office of the National Weather Service.

More than 4 inches of rain fell north of Kyle Canyon Road on Sunday, Stumpf said. Residential areas in the northwest part of the Las Vegas Valley reported 2 inches of rain from the storms, he said.

At McCarran International Airport, however, only a trace of rainfall was recorded Sunday.

“The west side was definitely the hardest hit,” Stumpf said.

The wet weather will continue today with a 70 percent chance of showers and high of 83 degrees, according to the Weather Service.

Light showers and rain were moving over Boulder City this morning, Stumpf said. Moderate rain that’s falling in California could move into the valley later today, along with thunderstorms, he said.

The temperatures will climb back up to the mid-90s by Wednesday, but there will be a chance of thunderstorms every day this week, Stumpf said.

Note to readers: If you have photos of weather-related damage or problems from this week that you would like to share, please send them to [email protected] along with information for a photo caption and credit, or you can tweet them to @LasVegasSun or post and tag the Sun on Instagram.