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Swim City: Las Vegas is underwater as multiple casinos, entire Strip, airport flooded

Many of Las Vegas’ iconic hotels and casinos were left underwater as heavy rain caused floods, and the entire Strip was submerged.

Megan Palin in the US
2 min read
July 30, 2022 - 7:08AM
A video making the rounds on Twitter shows the flooding at the sportsbook at Circa. Picture: KLAS-TV / Dan Miller
A video making the rounds on Twitter shows the flooding at the sportsbook at Circa. Picture: KLAS-TV / Dan Miller

Las Vegas has been hit by severe thunderstorms that have flooded its entire party strip, including iconic hotels and casinos such as Ceasar’s Palace and Planet Hollywood.

A monsoon dumped heavy rain across the Las Vegas Valley on Thursday night local time, triggering flash flooding along the Las Vegas Strip, turning streets into rivers and tourist hotspots into indoor pools.

Both a Flash Flood Warning and a Severe Thunderstorm Warning were issued by the National Weather Service for parts of the valley, which included downtown Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, on Friday.

Video footage shared on Twitter shows the streets of Sin City inundated with floodwater as cars are submerged. Other clips show water pouring into casinos and bringing down parts of infastructure.

One of the popular venues impacted by the heavy rain was Circa Sportsbook, with several videos posted on social media showing the inside bursting with floodwater, soaking the carpet.

Another clip shared online shows water pouring through a hole in the ceiling of Planet Hollywood Casino, located on Las Vegas Boulevard. Staffers can be seen recording the chaotic scenes on their cell phones.

Caesar’s Palace was also affected by floodwater, as a video posted online showed the ceiling unable to contain the water, which subsequently poured onto the carpets.

One social media video shows water gushing through a screen at Circa Resort & Casino and pooling on the carpet below. Additional videos show water rushing rapidly through the parking garage of the LINQ Hotel.

Another Twitter user captured the moment Freemont Street, the heart of downtown Vegas and home to many of its world famous hotel-casinos and nightly shows, went dark as the rain hit the city.

No injuries have been reported at this time, Las Vegas Fire Information Officer, Tim Szymanski, told reporters.

Several locations in the valley received over an inch of rain in two hours. Winds were blowing up to 80kph, with a record gust of 114kph recorded at Flamingo and Eastern, according to The Las Vegas Review Journal. As many as 7300 people reportedly had their power knocked out because of the storm.

Alexander Wolf, a Las Vegas resident, told The New York Post he saw “curtains” of rainfall outside his window.

“We’ve got good drainage systems but sometimes the water just overloads them,” Simon Jowitt, who also hails from Vegas, told the outlet.

“It can also be dangerous for homeless people who sometimes live in the drainage systems for shelter.”

“The other thing is that we don’t often get rain so it’s hard to check whether roofs and the like are actually waterproof; probably what has happened in the casinos tonight,” he added.

“These rains don’t happen that often, but we’ve had a few days in a row now.”

Elsewhere, local airports are experiencing severe delays as a result of the flooding.

Earlier on Thursday, local time, Harry Reid International Airport’s departure delays were averaging 50 minutes. Planes scheduled to fly to Las Vegas were being held at their starting airports until at least 11pm, according to FlightAware.com.

The National Weather Service office in Las Vegas announced early on Friday that the rain had ended across most of the Vegas valley, but some areas were still flooded.

Las Vegas is known to be one of the driest major cities in the US and has an arid climate all year round. The city typically gets four inches of rain per year. The National Weather Service Las Vegas said some areas of the city saw over one inch of rain on Thursday alone.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/las-vegas-flooding-multiple-casinos-entire-strip-airport-under-water/news-story/d4062e6724c190ed5db311bc49f4a1aa