By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
The Clark County Commission approved a resolution last week to declare a state of emergency for massive flooding that occurred in the Moapa Valley communities on Sept. 8. The declaration, which was approved unanimously in a commission meeting held on Tuesday, September 16, is a formal step in the process of requesting federal and state aid to help with costs associated with recovery work related to the storms.
“It’s necessary to put a declaration of emergency in place so we can formally ask for state and federal assistance in recouping at least some of the costs related to recovering from this storm,” said Commissioner Tom Collins in a statement last week. “This storm caused a tremendous amount of damage and it will take some time to dig out from the mess. We need to make sure our damage assessment is as thorough as possible so we qualify for any and all assistance that we may be eligible for.”
At the September 16 meeting, Meadow Valley Construction spokesman Jed Wheeler made a presentation to the commissioners regarding the Cooper Street Bridge project which is currently underway in Overton. Wheeler presented binders to the commissioners displaying photos of the construction site before and after the flood and showing the damage that was done.
“This was not a typical flood,” Wheeler told the commissioners. “A report from the National Oceianic Administration said that this kind of event occurs only every 500-1000 years. It just happened to occur during this project.” In an interview with the Progress later in the week, Wheeler said that an independent engineer had come to the site on Monday, September 15, to inspect the bridge structure itself and determine if damage had been done to it.
The report came back good. The bridge structure, as far as it had been constructed, had remained sound through the flood event.
But there is a need to reinforce the shoring below the bridge that supports the structure during construction, Wheeler said.
In addition, the company must clean up the trees and debris and rebuild the flood channel that was put in place to allow water to flow around the project, he said. “These things are certainly not as costly as a full bridge repair,” Wheeler said. “But they are still very costly. There is quite a bit of excavation involved.”
Wheeler said that he was still unable to give an estimate of the exact cost brought on by the flood. But he said it is enough that the company is requesting emergency assistance to help move the project forward. The company has communicated with the Governor’s office as well as with state legislators Cresent Hardy, James Oscarson and Pete Goichoechea. Wheeler also said that Commissioner Tom Collins had been accessible and very supportive to the project.
“We know that there are many others affected by this flood,” Wheeler told the commissioners at the September 16 meeting. “We just hope that some funding can be provided to our project to get us back on track quickly. The project is all about providing flood protection for residents and businesses in the area. We are doing all we can to get it back on track.”
In the meeting, Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak asked county staff how the county handles requests of this kind.
County staffer Irene Navis responded that the county had dispatched disaster teams to assess the damage.
“In the case of the bridge, it really depends on what the funding source is for the project,” Navis said. “The disaster team will look at all of that and see if there is a funding source that can be used to make the repairs.”
In addition to the bridge project, teams comprised of representatives from the county, state and federal government visited the area in the days immediately following the flood. The teams counted 91 homes with some degree of damage in the town of Moapa and at the Moapa Band of Paiutes reservation. Also 48 homes were reported to be damaged in the Logandale/Overton area.
In addition, Clark County Public Works teams estimated that the Sept. 8 storm caused more than $1 million in damage to public roadways maintained by the county. “Following a disaster event, it is standard protocol for representatives from both federal and state governments to conduct assessments to determine whether the impacted local area meets eligibility requirements for assistance,” said Clark County Public Information Officer Stacey Welling in a statement last week.
Welling explained that the federal damage threshold for the County to be eligible for cost-reimbursement related to the flooding is $6.8 million. This threshold is for response, cleanup and repair costs to public infrastructure, including damage to roads, buildings and related overtime costs, Welling said. “Typically, federal disaster assistance to homeowners and businesses comes in the form of loans through the SBA if eligibility requirements are met,” said Welling.
More information about federal disaster assistance for homeowners is available at www.fema.gov/disaster-survivor-assistance.
The county’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) has also set up a recorded message hotline at 702-455-5717. The public is encouraged to call the hotline to report interior damage to homes or businesses or large amounts of damage to exterior property from debris flows.
