Search for missing golf course worker ends, to resume Thursday

Rescuers Wednesday afternoon were unable to find a missing golf course employee who was swept away during the downpour on Tuesday and will resume searching for him after sunrise Thursday, a Las Vegas police spokesman said.

"Ground search teams are winding down their operations," the spokesman, officer Bill Cassell, said in 3 p.m. statement.

Las Vegas police said a groundskeeper at Desert Rose Golf Course in the eastern valley disappeared about 4:15 p.m. Tuesday while riding a tractor on the grounds.

Fellow employees called the 38-year-old man and asked him to report back to the clubhouse as the water began to rapidly rise, but that was the last time they heard from him, said officer Jose Hernandez.

"Reports were the tractor was pretty much covered in approximately 12 feet of water," said Hernandez, a spokesman.

A police rescue helicopter was unsuccessful in locating the man on Tuesday. The search resumed about 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Family members told the media that Calletano Lopez hasn't answered his phone and doesn't know how to swim, according to The Associated Press.

Hernandez said Sloan Lane and Sahara Avenue was one of the most flooded areas of the valley.

The Clark County Regional Flood Control District was aware of potential flood danger at Desert Rose Golf Course.

In June, the district board set aside $35 million for flood improvements along the Las Vegas Wash and at the golf course.

District General Manager Gale Fraser said Desert Rose already serves as a flood channel, but it doesn't have the capacity to handle major flood events.

Fraser said the work is expected to take about five years to complete.

The final official tally for Tuesday's storm was 1.18 inches of rain at the National Weather Service's main station at McCarran International Airport. That's a new record for Sept. 11 or any other day in September, which had never seen more than 1.12 inches of rain in a 24-hour period until this week.

Officially, Tuesday's storm produced the only measurable rain in Las Vegas so far this month, but it was enough all by itself to make this the fifth wettest September here since 1937.

Las Vegas has received 3.88 inches of rain so far this year, more than triple the total for all of 2011.

Four-fifths of all the rain this year has come from two storms: the one Tuesday and a downpour in late August that saw a Henderson teen drown in a flood channel.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Review-Journal writer Keith Rogers contributed to this report.

Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283. Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350.