Storms slam Las Vegas with winds, lightning, outages

Published Mon, Jul 9, 2018 (9:38 p.m.)

Updated Tue, Jul 10, 2018 (12:26 a.m.)

Monsoon-style summer storms hit the Las Vegas area late Monday with persistent lightning, sheets of rain and powerful winds that left 40,000 residents without power for much of the night.

The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning at about 9:30 p.m. for most of the valley. It was in effect till 10:15.

A gust of 68 mph was recorded at around 9:30 p.m. at McCarran International Airport, as winds across the area threatened to damage roofs and trees, officials said.

Airport officials said many arriving flights were diverted Monday night and many departures were grounded temporarily. They said travelers with flights Tuesday morning should check with the airline for flight status updates.

As of 11 p.m., the strong winds had died down, but scattered thunderstorms continued to bring lightning, scattered showers and flooding in pockets across the valley.

As of 12:24 a.m. Tuesday, 31,509 NV Energy customers in the valley were without power, according to the company's outage website.

Metro Police spokesman Larry Hadfield in a statement encouraged drivers to be wary of intersections where the power is out and that they should come to a complete stop before proceeding.

He also said they should never cross streets or intersections that have water rushing through them.

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