LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Repairs continue in the Spring Mountains in the aftermath of the Hurricane Hilary storm system. According to officials from the Kyle Canyon Water District, the area received more than eight inches of rain in just three days, which led to major flooding and caused a lot of damage.
"We ended up having considerable damage to the roads. We had washouts in about four locations. It also affected our water system pretty significantly," said David Johnson, the Deputy General Manager of Operations. "The rainfall was to the point where our wells started to flow artesian, which means water was coming out of the top of the well as opposed to being pumped through the well. We ended up having line breaks and our reservoir storages were drained during that event for Echo Canyon and other areas."
Because of the damage, boil water orders were issued for communities in the Spring Mountains including Rainbow Canyon, Echo Canyon, Cathedral Rock, and Old Town. Johnson said crews were sent out to do repairs as soon as they were able to see how bad the damage was but that even that was difficult at times.
"Some of our crews got to a point where they were assessing the damage and the rain started to fall again and they had to shelter in place in the community for a period of time," Johnson said.
According to a county commission presentation, the Kyle Canyon Water District has four production wells and four storage tanks, which have at least 500,000 gallons of water in them. That water services about 400 customers in the Spring Mountains. Johnson said that so far, the majority of water service has been restored.
"Rainbow Canyon was the community with the least damage. We ended up losing power to our well but were able to lift the boil water order on Aug. 26," Johnson said. "In Echo and Cathedral Rock, there was more damage. Our crews had to put new piping configurations in place, fill up storages, and super chlorinate to disinfect and flush the system and put the system back together again. On Sept. 2, we were able to lift the boil water order."
Johnson added that there are four homes they're still working on getting service to in the Echo Canyon area.
"We weren't able to access the road to put new piping in place until this week," Johnson said. "We're hoping to have those last four homes in the Echo subdivision in place very soon."
According to Johnson, Old Town sustained the most damage.
"There are places where you can stand in the swell that was caused by this flooding event where you're looking at driveways. The system was basically torn out by the flooding that occurred," Johnson said.
He added the water district is working with Las Vegas Paving to start further repairs.
"They have already begun determining where staging areas are, where storing areas for equipment are and we're beginning that work now," Johnson said. "We're still working to determine what that timeline looks like to put them in water service."
Right now, Johnson said the water district is looking at all available funding options to help cover the cost of repairs. He said that includes insurance funding, federal and state emergency funding, and grant funding for other programs. In the meantime, he said it's important for the community to avoid the area and that the Spring Mountains are still closed.
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"The ground is saturated. We're finding water that is still coming out of fissures that we don't normally see water come from," Johnson said. "It has the potential to impact work. We have contingencies in place but we certainly hope we don't get heavy rains up there while we complete repairs."
