North of Las Vegas about 30 miles lies the Moapa Reservation, home to a small tribe of Paiute-affiliated Native Americans that have historically inhabited the region along the Muddy River, an unattractively-but-aptly-named watercourse. The Muddy River has a trickle of surface water in it most of the time, but its watershed drains a significant area of southern Nevadas Mojave Desert and there are times where it is larger than many permanent rivers in the eastern US, although that lasts for only a short time before it recedes from flood stage. On Monday September 8, 2014 a series of thunderstorms developed over the Moapa Reservation and the Muddy River, the result of tropical monsoon moisture forced northwards by former Hurricane Norbert off of the central Baja Peninsula. Radar estimates showed that anywhere from 4 to 10 inches of rainfall fell over the region in only a few hours, which amounts to roughly 1 to 2 times the normal annual rainfall for the region. Some are calling it a 1000-year storm, although I am sure that as this event is studied in more detail by experts in climate and meteorology it will eventually be properly rated at whatever level. The extreme flooding was captured on numerous videos posted on social media by people traveling on Interstate 15, the main highway that crosses the region between Nevada and Utah. One video shows a minivan that was caught in the flood by accident being swept off of the median of I-15 filled with roaring water, over a waterfall that had no right to exist, and underneath an overpass, nearly killing the elderly couple inside and a bystander to tried to assist them. (All survived, fortunately, the bystander with a broken wrist and the couple with minimal injuries.) I-15 was washed out, with huge sections of road bed missing, which will be extremely expensive to repair and cause major traffic delays for a very long time. Heres the video of the minivan, as posted on YouTube yesterday. In the comments I also post a link to a news site showing damage to I-15. https://youtube/watch?v=UscvetL9xc0&list=UUJjgfUFD1B-obDpejalYV1Arel=0
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 23:09:19 +0000
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