AMARGOSA VALLEY -- Nye County commissioners Tuesday declared a natural disaster after the heavy rain Sept. 21, allowing the use of emergency money from the payment equal to taxes the county receives for the land value of Yucca Mountain.

Nye County Public Works Director Samson Yao estimated the cost of the repairs roughly at $247,000.

Much of that will go toward repairing a sinkhole about 150 feet in diameter on Park Ridge Avenue. The last time that neighborhood experienced a soil collapse the county spent about $300,000 to fix larger sinkholes on Hacienda Street in 2005, he said.

Nye County road crews have been working overtime to repair the damage from the rain, which Yao estimated as the equivalent of a 100-year flood. A National Weather Service observer estimated 2.7 inches fell in Pahrump in one day.

Part of the problem was the start of the annual chip-seal program at the same time, Yao said.

"We're behind on other work. There's many places we need to accomplish repair. As a result of that we'll have a maintenance problem. It puts us way behind schedule," Yao said.

He estimated road crews put in about 3,360 hours of overtime.

"This is only an estimate. We don't know how much it's going to cost. The only thing we know for sure that to repair Park Ridge Avenue we have an estimate of $150,000 to repair the sink hole," Yao said.

The emergency funding will also take care of washouts in Crystal and Amargosa Valley, he said.

Two other road-related matters were discussed at the Tuesday Nye County Commissioners meeting.

The commission approved the closure of State Highway 318 which passes through easternmost Nye County, for the Silver State Classic Challenge from Hiko to Lund on May 18, 2008 and Sept. 21, 2008.

Yao complained a new Nevada Department of Transportation traffic engineer was imposing more requirements on Nye County than others, in asking for pedestrian lights, a handicapped ramp, warning lights and approach lights at the intersection of Highway 160 and Homestead Road.

"I'm looking at the county's interest and the fact they put up this onerous requirement," Yao said. "They shouldn't be exercising a double standard."

Pahrump residents have been waiting a long time for a traffic signal at that busy intersection.