Weekend heavy storms hit county

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Heavy rain and high winds lashed parts of southern Nevada, including Lincoln County over the weekend.

Caliente reported the storm, in the afternoon July 27, caused some flooding, and Pahranagat Valley had a heavy rain shower in the afternoon July 28, with Panaca getting a heavy hailstorm.

A severe thunderstorm with a 71-mph wind gust measured at Nellis Air Force Base swept across the Las Vegas Valley on Friday evening, July 27, causing heavy damage in places, stranding drivers in flash floods, snapping power poles and tearing trees from the ground. The next day, the storm continued northward to Caliente.

Jerry Carter, Public Utilities Shop foreman in Caliente, said waters poured down Spring Heights between the blocks of Gottfredson?s and Mountain Mercantile, and also off Benton Heights.

He said water flooded the basement of the Shamrock Pub about one foot deep, which had to be pumped out, but caused no serious damage.

Tyra Lytle of the Branding Iron Restaurant said her business, along with a few others on Clover Street, had water and mud come up to the back door, however she said it did not come very far inside. ?We just closed the restaurant for a couple of hours and swept the water into the drains. It was a hard rain that runs off the roof, then slants back toward the buildings.

The high winds rubbed trees against some of the power lines behind McArthur Drive in Caliente and caused a small fire that was quickly put out by the Caliente Volunteer Fire Department.

The Community Engineering Monitoring Program reported Caliente received three-quarters of an inch of rain July 27 between 2 and 4 p.m. with 35 mph winds as the storm moved over.

Another storm cell moved over the County the afternoon of July 28 and dumped 0.16 inches between 4 and 5 p.m., in the Pahranagat Valley, but caused no flooding. However, in Panaca, the storm dropped some heavy hail, about half-an-inch in size, about 5:30. County Commissioner Paul Mathews said there were no major damages or personal injuries he has heard about, ?but a lot of people have said the hail just ruined their gardens and sweet corn.? The hail and rain afterwards caused some minor flooding in Panaca, Mathews said, ?All the gutters and drains were running full.?