CORONAVIRUS: ‘Surreal’ day the lights went out in Las Vegas

“We were only there six hours when they came up to us saying the Governor has given a direction for everything to close”

IT IS a scene usually only seen in movies, but one Rockhampon couple experienced the day the lights were turned out and the strip abandoned in Las Vegas due to coronavirus.

Mandy and her husband Paul have been travelling to the US every year for the past 17 years for shopping, shows and relaxation.

But they left the usually brightly-lit Neon Capital of the World in a hurry as countries shut down and locked their borders to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Las Vegas attracts more than 40 million visitors every year with March being dubbed March Madness as every hotel gets booked out due to conferences and Spring Break.

Mandy spoke with The Morning Bulletin over the phone while in her mandatory two week isolation after arriving home in Rockhampton late last week.

“We’ve been over there in the Global Financial Crisis and Swine Flu, and Ebola a few years ago,” she said.

“This time, they actually switched the lights off.

“It was surreal.”

She said they wandered through an empty casino before leaving and all the slot machines were turned off.

Images taken by Mandy and Paul of Las Vegas and inside an abandoned casino after the lights went out due to the Nevada Governor ordered casinos and other businesses to close, leaving only takeaway food open.

Mandy said the resort they were staying in gave them less than 24 hours notice to get out.

She said her daughter jumped online and managed to book them into a motel.

“We were only there six hours when they came up to us saying the Governor has given a direction for everything to close,” Mandy said.

“We packed up and went to the airport.”

She said airlines were doing everything they could to get people home.

Mandy said their taxi driver told them he had been waiting for a fare for four hours before picking them up and he worked for minimum wage, relying on tips to survive.

She said the experience made her realise how good life was in Australia.

Their trip was not all doom and gloom as they got to see Rod Stewart perform.