Flash floods and hail hit Las Vegas as moisture from Vance's remnants soaks the Southwest; one dead in Henderson
Thunderstorms fed by moisture from the remnants of Tropical Storm Vance brought torrential rain, hail and flash flooding to the Las Vegas Valley on Friday, 30 October, and again on Halloween night. In Henderson, a person pulled from a flooded wash by firefighters went into cardiac arrest and died in hospital, city officials said. A Flash Flood Watch stays in force for parts of southern Nevada and north-west Arizona through Sunday night.
Friday's storms were the worst. Around 1 p.m. local time, Henderson firefighters carried out three water rescues at the same time. Two people were pulled from a car swept off Lake Mead Parkway and another driver was rescued from the roof of a stalled vehicle; none of them was hurt. The fourth person, rescued from a wash near Lake Mead Parkway and North Pueblo Boulevard, did not survive. Parts of Lake Mead Parkway were closed because of flooding and debris, KTNV reported.
County rain gauges recorded more than 1.5 inches (38 mm) of rain in parts of the valley on Friday, and the National Weather Service reported hail the size of ping-pong balls east of downtown, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Cars were left stranded and partly under water at Eastern Avenue and Interstate 11. Harry Reid International Airport stopped ground traffic because of lightning, and NV Energy reported more than 4,000 customers without power at one point, KSNV said.
Flooded streets in Las Vegas:
On Saturday evening, as children went trick-or-treating, the weather service issued another flash flood warning for Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Summerlin and Centennial Hills, where up to an inch of rain fell in places. Harry Reid airport measured 1.31 inches in October, about four times the normal 0.32 inches and not far below the October record of 1.45 inches set in 2005.
The US National Hurricane Center said in its final advisory on 29 October that moisture from Vance's remnants would add to rainfall over the south-western US. The same system flooded the Mexican port city of Guaymas on 30 October.
The video shared by Mexican outlet Tabasco HOY shows streets in Las Vegas turned into fast-flowing rivers. The original post also included a clip of a huge dust cloud swallowing the Strip, but no dust storm was reported by the weather service or local media this weekend, and residents on social media disputed that it was filmed now. We have left it out.