Mother Nature Hits M.V. With Full Force

By VERNON ROBISON

Moapa Valley Progress

The forecast said that there would likely be rain on Monday. That seemed unlikely that morning, though, as the day started with clear blue skies over the Moapa Valley communities. But by mid-afternoon the forecast turned out to be an extreme understatement.

Dark clouds gathered over the Moapa area as the afternoon progressed; and then the rain began. Moapa residents reported that it continued pouring down heavy rain in the area for nearly two hours. The National Weather Service reported that Moapa had received more than three inches of rain within a 90 minute time period Monday afternoon. And it didn’t take long for all that water to swell area washes and flood the region.

Flood waters barrelling down the Mormon Mountain Wash raged over Interstate 15 in the area between the Logandale/Overton exit and the Glendale exit. The resulting flood completely washed out a large section of the interstate in that area. Both north- and south-bound lanes were closed from the Highway 93 exit 64 near Apex all the way to mile marker 112 near Bunkerville. Officials say that it could be several days before the interstate is repaired and useable again.

In addition, flood waters filled the Muddy River channel at Glendale and threatened to come over the interstate at that location as well. Officials feared there may have been some damage done to bridges at that location.
Moapa’s Henrie Road, a major residential thoroughfare, became a raging waterfall as floodwater rushing down the local wash inundated a section of the road making it impassable.

Flooding became severe at the Moapa River Indian Reservation where residents were evacuated and homes were reported having received serious damage.
Students and teachers at Ute Perkins Elementary School became stranded at the school. It was not until late in the evening that the children and school staff were able to be returned home. While flood waters did not directly threaten the school itself, all the surrounding streets leaving the school had been rendered impassable.

Problems at Reid Gardner Power Station resulted in a major power outage to all of Overton Power District customers in Moapa Valley and Mesquite. The switchyards at the coal burning power plant were inundated with flood water, making it impossible for crews to get in quickly and solve the problem. The outage began at around 4:00 p.m. . In the Moapa Valley, the outage continued until nearly midnight.

Of course, flooding was not only isolated to the upper Muddy communities. As the flow of water continued downstream it caused problems through Logandale and Overton as well.
By early evening, the flood surge had reached the Logandale diversion dam at Wells Siting.
Homes along Whipple Ave and Hardy Avenue in Logandale received heavy flood water from a wash which drains a large portion of the Mormon Mesa to the north.

By around 9:00 p.m. the high point of the flood had reached the Gubler crossing where it completely filled the channel without overflowing, leaving only about four feet of clearance below the bridge.
About an hour later the surge had reached the Yamashita Bridge where it began to overflow the banks of the channel. Water flowed out over State Highway 169 at that location and flooded into the fields on the other side. But the major portion of the flooding occurred in the fields on the east side of the highway. Nearby homes on the east side of the highway also sustained flooding.

Overton property owners and an army of volunteers gathered near Overton Volunteer Fire Station 74 where several piles of sand had been dumped. There they worked late into the night filling sandbags for local residents.
Residents in the stringtown area of the Cooper Street braced for the worst. But flooding in that area ended up being relatively minimal. This was aided by the widening of the Cooper Crossing area where a new bridge is under construction.

The bridge construction site received significant flooding. By early Tuesday morning, officials from contractor Meadow Valley Construction were still assessing the extent of the damage.
Areas south of Overton experienced the flood surge as well. An emergency evacuation center was made available at Moapa Valley High School for residents wishing to leave their homes. No mandatory evacuations were issued.

Clark County’s Office of Emergency Management has set up a recorded message line for property owners to call to report flood damage from this week’s storms. Callers are being asked to leave a message with their name, address and telephone number. They also should describe flood damage that has occurred inside their property or report significant amounts of debris flow outside their property that will require resources to remove. The Flood Damage Hotline is: (702) 455-5717.