LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — As the remnants of Tropical Storm Hilary passed over the valley this past weekend, city officials have taken the opportunity to highlight the valley's flood control infrastructure.
While many were grabbing free sandbags, city officials credit the valley's system of drains and channels for the "relatively manageable flooding conditions."
Clark County currently has 106 detention basins throughout the valley, built in large opened desert lots and designed to handle heavy rainfall. Officials say the basins prevent flooding by collecting the water and allowing it to flow through a system of drains and channels until it eventually ends up in Lake Mead.
During Tropical Storm Hilary, officials say the Red Rock detention basin was "about 10 percent" filled. Chief Engineer Steve Parrish with the Regional Flood Control District says that’s only a fracture of what the basin can hold.
“You know we’re in a desert but we do get flooding here. Our soil is not very conducive to infiltrating water so there's not that much vegetation here so when it does rain it tends to run off very quickly, We have steep slopes so we do need a lot of flood control infrastructure here,” Parrish said.
As the valley prepares for more flooding in the coming week, officials are emphasizing plans to add around 30 more basins to the valley's infrastructure in the next 30 years.
