Originally Posted by
LarryS
Its like people need to be talked down off a ledge, or reminded how to behave. They need to be assured everything will be ok.
I bet vegas is 10x worse when they get rain.
I don't know that people need to be talked down off a ledge.
But it IS a somewhat unusual event. Especially a solid day or two of rain. We just don't get that very often. Not even once a year.
AND there are some negative consequences. To begin with anytime it rains in Vegas, the roads get very slick. There are oils and things that normally get washed away with regular rainfall. Because we don't get that, when just a little rains occurs, it has the effect of an ice skating rink, in spots.
There is also that flood situation. I really don't understand it, but just a little rain, like 1/2 inch, and we have major flooding. I have heard it has something to do with the ground so dry and hard it doesn't absorb like other places.
We have those big concrete flood ways that are all over the city that are supposed to divert rainwater. They are bone dry 99% of the time. But just a small amount of rain and these things become raging rivers. 5 or 6 years ago, after a small amount of rain, a couple of high school kids were playing near one of those "instant rivers" and one lost his footing and was carried away, over 5 miles to where these things empty out in swamp land over by Sam Boyd Stadium, behind Boulder highway. His body was dug out of the mud several days later.
Ever since I relocated here, I haven't been able to figure out how such a small amount of rain can cause such big problems.