Storms cause hundreds of crashes on Las Vegas highways — VIDEO
Drivers in the Las Vegas Valley are not used to dealing with rain-slickened roadways and it showed during the two-day drenching the area received this week.
The Nevada Highway Patrol reported 213 crashes between 10 a.m. Monday and 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, including two that resulted in critical injuries. Trooper Jason Buratczuk said that represents a 300 percent increase in crashes compared to the same period last week.
Buratczuk said Highway Patrol also received 94 calls for assistance, mostly involving drivers who had lost control of their vehicles and gotten stuck on shoulders of onramps, offramps and highways.
And those numbers don’t include accidents or calls for assistance to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
The roads were especially slippery because of the 116-day dry spell that ended early Monday, which allowed oil and other substances to build up on roadways.
The rainfall, which cleared out overnight, broke the daily record at McCarran International Airport, the city’s official measurement station. The 1.33 inch total for the day broke the previous record for the day by a full inch, according to the National Weather Service.
