LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — People living in the central Las Vegas valley told 8 News Now several dust devils have been wreaking havoc on their mobile home community this week.
Cliff Carl a resident living near Aville Street and Desert Inn Road described the damage left behind on his street by the dust devil as, “totally insane.”
“It kept getting louder and louder and louder and louder,” Carl described. ‘And then the house started to shake.”
Cliff and his neighbors who spoke with 8 News Now said the dust devils that hit their homes left a path of destruction after pieces were flying around. Awnings were ripped off porches, panels were torn off walls, and even a power transformer was hit, causing an outage and starting a small fire.
“We all went to the center of the room,” Carl said, discussing the need to take cover. “Because we knew what it was.”
Our 8 News Now Weather Team called this phenomenon fairly common in the summer. Chief Meteorologist Tedd Florendo explained that as extreme heat rises, it forms into a dust devil. The storms are quick but intense, with some as strong as a small tornado.
“Since I’ve lived in Vegas, and I have been here 25 years,” Carl shared. “I have never experienced anything like this.”
Carl and others living in the neighborhood said they’ve had some problems in the past, but nothing quite so terrifying. They told 8 News Now they are just glad things weren’t any worse.
“This is like completely bizarre,” Carl concluded.
Carl and other neighbors told 8 News Now debris has since been cleared out of the road and no one was hurt.