Students stranded in Moapa; part of I-15 washed away
Heavy rain pummeled Moapa on Monday, stranding nearly 100 students and closing part of Interstate 15 northeast of Las Vegas after sections of the freeway washed away.
Northbound lanes of I-15 were closed starting at Apex all the way to the Moapa exit, about 50 miles from Las Vegas. Nevada Highway Patrol trooper Chelsea Webster said southbound lanes were closed near Bunkerville.
In the 30-mile stretch between Moapa and Bunkerville, there were sections where asphalt lay in collapsed piles and other spots where only the shoulder remained. Officials said some vehicles floated off the freeway.
Webster said there was “quite a bit of traffic” backed up at 7 p.m. and that some people were starting to turn around.
There isn’t an easy detour for the closed freeway, which Nevada Department of Transportation officials said will be closed for a minimum of three to four days. Alternate routes would include U.S. 93 and state Route 168, but sections of both were also closed from flood damage.
Transportation Department officials met Monday night to discuss their plan of attack. An emergency contract had been issued as of 9 p.m. Monday to start repairs today, Transportation Department Spokesman Sean Sever said.
“I’ve never seen something like this in Nevada,” Sever said.
Farther east, I-15 was closed from the Arizona border into the Virgin River Gorge and up to St. George, Utah, according to the Utah Department of Transportation, leaving no direct passable routes to Las Vegas.
In Moapa, Clark County School District officials planned to stay overnight at Ute Perkins Elementary School, where about 70 elementary and high school students were stranded. All of the students were picked up by 10 p.m., district spokeswoman Michelle Booth said.
The school building had been running on emergency lights, and Fire Department workers brought food and water, Booth said. The school cafeteria was also making meals. After the students were picked up, teachers were escorted home through Valley of Fire State Park.
There were 18 students from another Moapa school as of 10 p.m. Monday, Grant Bowler Elementary School, who were staying at a Clark County fairgrounds building. Staff also remained there to supervise students who needed to spend the night.
Hughes Middle School in Mesquite was being used as a shelter for stranded motorists.
Classes are canceled today at the following schools because of flooding or power outages: Ute Perkins, Grant Bowler, J.L. Bowler and Virgin Valley elementary schools, Lyon and Hughes middle schools, and Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley high schools.
Officials said 190 people from the Moapa River Reservation were being sheltered. Tribal police had warned that the waters of the Muddy River were close to breaching a dam there.
Within the Las Vegas Valley, crews were cleaning up city streets after deluges from storms that were pushed north by remnants of Hurricane Norbert.
Throughout Clark County, firefighters pulled at least four people from cars that stalled in deep water from as far west as Sandy Valley, on the California line, to the intersection of Harmon Avenue at Dean Martin Drive near the Strip.
No one was hurt, according to a spokesman for the Clark County Fire Department.
Las Vegas motorists were advised to avoid roads and intersections including Grand Teton Drive at Decatur Boulevard, Decatur between Oakey and Charleston boulevards and Lindell Road south of Sahara Avenue while flooding receded and cleanup crews removed road debris, according to city of Las Vegas spokesman Margaret Kurtz.
Moapa was hit hard around 3 p.m. It received more than 3½ inches of rain in only 90 minutes, weather service spokesman Dan Berc said. The initial storm stayed nearly stationary there, and other storm cells merged with it.
Both the weather service and the Regional Flood Control District warned residents in the area that even when the storms passed, flood runoff would still be a problem into the evening.
“We want to make sure no one is going out there in these floods,” Berc said.
The flood control district received up to 30 feet of water in its detention basins during the day. As of 5 p.m., a basin at Decatur Boulevard between Russell and Sunset roads in Las Vegas had 28 feet of water.
The Kyle Canyon Detention Basin, which has been a trouble spot since last summer’s Carpenter 1 wildfire, was mostly missed by rainfall.
Monday’s storms also posed inconveniences for Las Vegas residents, national park visitors and travelers.
Lake Mead National Recreation Area reported that access to some backcountry roads was limited. The main roads in the park remained open but had some gravel and debris on them.
McCarran International Airport reported weather-related delays early in the afternoon and again in the evening.
For a short time, nearly 3,000 people were without power as in the northwest Las Vegas Valley of zip code 89131, NV Energy reported.
Roads throughout Clark County were shut down for a short time while the storm surged through the valley.
State Route 168 was closed for much of the day between U.S. Highway 93 and I-15, northeast of Las Vegas, according to the Highway Patrol.
U.S. Highway 95 near state Route 163, about 20 miles west of Laughlin, also was shut down. U.S. 95 north of Las Vegas, near Lee Canyon Road and the Snow Mountain exit, was shut down. Near Mount Charleston, much of state Route 158, the road that connects Lee Canyon and Kyle Canyon roads, was closed.
Weather watchers in parts of the western Las Vegas Valley reported as much as a quarter-inch of rain in 15 minutes.
Las Vegas Review-Journal writer Cassandra Taloma and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
