300 properties out of flood zone in east Las Vegas

Three hundred properties in the area of Nellis and Charleston boulevards will no longer be in a flood zone beginning Thursday due to recent improvements in the Las Vegas Wash, meaning those residents also will no longer be required to buy flood insurance.

The removal of the flood zone designation comes as the Federal Emergency Management Agency revises its Flood Insurance Rate Map, according to the Clark County Regional Flood Control District. The revisions reduced the Special Flood Hazard Area, where there is a 1 percent chance of flood in any given year.

In a statement Wednesday, and in a notice to affected residents June 5, the district said the move is possible after a $20 million project to increase the capacity of the Las Vegas Wash, citing a team effort between the district, county and city of Las Vegas.

Finished in February 2018, the project installed 7,200 linear feet of concrete channel in the wash from Nellis Boulevard to Stewart Avenue. Two years before, a $58 million flood-control effort nearby in The Club at Sunrise golf course sparked the removal of another flood zone designation, impacting 1,400 properties.

In all, 54 square miles of flood zones have been removed throughout the county as flood control improvements occur, according to the district.

“Every project we complete solves a problem for someone,” said Steve Parris, the district’s general manager and chief engineer. “In this case, the neighborhood is safer, and residents can save a little money too.”

Despite flood zone removals, and even though it is no longer federally required, residents and property owners may choose to purchase flood insurance at a substantially reduced rate, the district said.

Contact Shea Johnson at sjohnson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272. Follow @Shea_LVRJ on Twitter.