by Peter Mertz
DENVER, Aug 1 (NNN-XINHUA) – Las Vegas, one of the driest cities in the U.S., got the biggest washout, but throughout the U.S. Southwest, heavy rain and wind welcome the annual monsoon season, spelling a relief to record drought conditions.
“The sky opened up across the Las Vegas metro on Thursday night, and heavy rainfall turned streets and sidewalks along the iconic Las Vegas Strip into raging rivers, as flash flooding developed,” AccuWeather, a weather-forecasting service agency, reported on Saturday, adding that, some visitors to the city were left stranded or scrambling to seek shelter.
Meanwhile, according to local media, at least 16,000 residents suffered power shortage in the Las Vegas Valley, on Friday night, due to monsoon rains that targeted the region.
Data from the National Weather Service (NWS) showed that, the storm on Thursday night brought an inch (2.54 cm) of rain, wind gusts of over 70 mph, which flooded casinos and nightclubs along Vegas’ storied strip.
Social media posts showed flooding inside iconic Planet Hollywood and Caesars Palace, Circa Sports and the Golden Gate in downtown Las Vegas. Online posts also indicated light flooding at the Fremont Street Experience.
Intense summer thunderstorms that drenched parts of Las Vegas – causing water to cascade from casino ceilings and pool, on the carpet of a stadium-sized sports betting area.
“Last Friday night’s weather took Vegas by storm, and we were no exception,” Circa owner, Derek Stevens, said in a Twitter post.
All of the venues flooded Thursday night had been cleaned and mopped on Saturday, casino owners posted Saturday, anxious to get business rolling again.
However, clean-up crews worked Saturday in Las Vegas nervously looking at the sky as more rain was predicted.
Apart from that, several crashes on Nevada highways were reported by the state’s regional transportation commission on Twitter, and the flood control district said, water depth had risen to over 16 feet (about 4.87 m) in the Tropicana Detention Basin near Russell Road.
The annual monsoon weather pattern has brought a parade of storms across the U.S. Southwest in recent weeks, that led to flooding in normally dry washes, rain measured in inches and rescue operations, the Associated Press reported.
From the Rocky Mountain town of Marble, Colorado, to Apache Junction, Arizona, east of Phoenix, some 620 miles (about 998 km) away, dark clouds hovered over dry desert land at high and low elevations, causing rain and flooding.
In Arizona, a driver had to be rescued from a vehicle caught in floodwaters in Apache Junction, where high waters flowed through the town, and stranded, flooded homes and damaged businesses.
“It was really bad. It was crazy,” the 12 News headline read, after rising waters made homes and businesses look like tiny islands surrounded by moats that were once streets.
Parts of the Hualapai Mountains in Mohave County received up to six inches (15.2 cm) of rain in recent days, and “parts of Arizona can expect one (2.5 cm) to two (5 cm) inches of rain per hour, before a flood watch expired Saturday morning.”
New Mexico Governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, said, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, granted a request to include effects of flooding and mudslides, in certain counties hit by massive wildfires this year, to the state’s disaster declaration.
In northern Arizona, the towns of Heber, Show Low, Bellemont and Prescott, are near or above 200 percent of normal rainfall so far during the monsoon.
In Utah, “despite recent monsoons that have brought much-needed rain to some areas of the state, hot, bone dry conditions continue to bake our parched vegetation,” Joel Ferry, acting executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, said.
Even with scattered rain, Ferry warned residents about the risk of wildfires, that have plagued the region for the past decade.– NNN-XINHUA
