The Las Vegas Weather Service warned of wind gusts approaching 70 mph, urging Twitter followers to “shelter now!” Las Vegas Fire and Rescue tweeted that he responded to 330 calls for service, mostly weather-related, and rescued seven people in whitewater.
Several intersections were flooded. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that more than 7,000 customers faced power outages after 10 p.m.
Video I received from an employee working near the bookmaker at Circa. Clean up after the flood that just happened. You certainly don’t see this every day. @8NewsNow #8NN
Courtesy: Dan Miller pic.twitter.com/CxmjHH78Rn
– Victoria Saha (@VictoriaSaha) July 29, 2022
Instead of seeping into the desert, stormwater tends to accumulate in Las Vegas, which means relatively little precipitation can lead to flooding.
Monsoon-triggered storms prompted the National Weather Service to issue severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings Thursday night. Radar showed a narrow but intense swath of thunderstorms that swept through Vegas around 8:30 p.m. local time North.
Harry Reid International Airport received 0.32 inches of rain – about its average amount for all of July – while “a few pockets in the city picked up over an inch,” the weather service wrote.
Thursday marked the second night of monsoon storms in the city, with more expected in the southwest, according to the National Weather Service.
Nevada’s summer was marked by drought; Lake Mead water levels have reached their lowest point since 1937, according to NASA, exposing three sets of human remains in the reservoir since May.
Across the country, catastrophic flooding in eastern Kentucky has killed at least 16 people since Wednesday. Historic rainfall around St. Louis on Tuesday caused flash flooding that killed one person. Both showers are considered 1 in 1,000 year rainfall events.