Las Vegas strip is flooded as thunderstorms hit triggering rainfall INSIDE Planet Hollywood
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Unrelenting rainwater cascaded through casino ceilings and drenched party-goers in Las Vegas for the second time in two weeks after intense summer thunderstorms and torrential rain continue to drench the city.
Extraordinary footage from inside the Planet Hollywood casino on the Las Vegas strip in Nevada's capital showed rain pouring through the ceiling as punters were left soaked through in disbelief.
The bright lights of the city illuminated the intense downpours and flash flooding as carpets and casino tables were penetrated by the relentless deluge and thunderstorms overnight.
This comes as the US has been hit with tumultuous weather fronts this summer - including scorching, deadly 100F temperatures in some areas, while other places have been wiped out by intense flash flooding.
One shocked witness, Sean Sable, shared footage from inside Planet Hollywood, and tweeted: 'You're not going to believe this, but I'm not sure if it's raining more inside Planet Hollywood or outside.'
Rainwater also began pouring through the ceiling inside the iconic Las Vegas venue Caesar's Palace, with desperate staff trying to cordon off a flooded area with soaking wet slot machine chairs.
Outside, the city's roads were largely unpassable for drivers as they were blocked by floodwater and cordoned off by police, while officials warned the public not to drive in the flooded streets.
But one driver was seen driving their car down the neon-soaked Las Vegas strip, as the water rose up above the vehicle's bumper.
The intense thunderstorms and heavy rain left more than 17,500 people in Las Vegas without power on Thursday night as the deluge rumbled on.
The National Weather Service for Las Vegas issued a flash flood warning on Thursday evening and a flood advisory warning until 12.15am on Friday. The rain is expected to continue throughout the weekend, forecasters said.
Extraordinary footage from inside Planet Hollywood on the Las Vegas strip showed rain pouring through the ceilings of the casino. This is the second time this summer that the torrential rain has come through the buildings in Nevada's capital amid the tumultuous weather front
LAS VEGAS: The bright lights of the city illuminate the intense downpours and flash flooding. This image was taken in July, during the city's last flooding
Sean Sable, who shared footage from inside Planet Hollywood, tweeted: 'You're not going to believe this, but I'm not sure if it's raining more inside Planet Hollywood or outside'
The National Weather Service for Las Vegas issued a flash flood warning on Thursday evening and a flood advisory warning until 12.15am on Friday. The rain is expected to continue throughout the weekend, forecasters said
'Never have I seen rain this torrential like I saw this evening,' Richard Henderson, who is from Vancouver, Canada, told the New York Post.
'The rain was so heavy that you could barely see the Flamingo across the street.'
Henderson, who had been inside Caesar's Palace when the rain began pouring through the ceiling, said desperate staff cordoned off a flooded area 'with makeshift barrier of soaking wet slot machine chairs'.
He said: 'A quick glance to the ceiling and we were shocked to see water pouring out of every sprinkler head and other spots.
'The sheer amount of water made one of my friends very nervous – she was very concerned about the possibility of more water coming in or a partial ceiling collapse.'
Henderson added: 'The lightning strikes were intense. I've never seen anything quite like it in Vegas.'
The intense rain and flooding is expected to continue throughout the weekend, National Weather Service Las Vegas lead Forecaster Chris Outler said.
Outler said: 'There are daily chances. Right now the rain has tapered off across the valley but just about every day, especially in the afternoon and evening hours, we have about 30% chances for Las Vegas.'
Just last month, Las Vegas was engulfed in intense deluges - sending many buildings, parking lots, and the iconic Strip under inches of floodwater.
Some of the world's most famous casinos and hotels were submerged after thunderstorms soaked residents and caused flashed flooding in Las Vegas.
Heavy rain pummeled the city, as streets turned into streams of water and roads became impassable.
The iconic Caesar’s Palace was flooded - as it has also been overnight.
Rainwater was seen pouring through the roofs of a casino and soaking the carpet while people were filmed drenched by the torrential downpour.
Cars wade through floodwaters near the Strat Hotel in downtown Las Vegas in another video while a woman gasped in shock.
'Electric surges set the fire alarms of several buildings off, causing fire responders to have to head out into the storm to respond to them,' Las Vegas resident Alexander Wolf said.
Some vehicles were almost fully submerged in the floods, the footage showed.
There was also flooding inside Planet Hollywood on the Las Vegas Strip, with water coming through the room of the building.
Outside, the neon-soaked Las Vegas strip was flooded and a driver was seen driving their car down the road, as the water rose up above the vehicle's bumper
Basements were also flooded in Las Vegas following the heavy rainfall on Thursday night
The heavy rainfall on June 29 caused water to cascade from casino ceilings and pool on the carpet of a stadium-sized sports betting area.
One video showed a man continuing to gamble at a casino slot machine while water fell around him.
'A night we'll never forget,' Circa owner Derek Stevens said in a Twitter post.
The annual weather pattern has brought a parade of storms across the U.S. Southwest in recent weeks that lead to flooding in normally dry washes, rain measured in inches and rescue operations.
While the rain is welcome in a region gripped by drought, it creates headaches for neighborhoods where wildfires have stripped the land of vegetation, which normally slows and partially absorbs floodwaters.
The surface level at the region's drought-stricken water supply — the Lake Mead reservoir behind Hoover Dam on the Colorado River — has dropped to less than 30%.
While runoff from storms in the Las Vegas area will reach the lake, monsoon moisture is not likely to affect the ongoing regional drought, John Adair, a veteran meteorologist at the weather service office, said.
'For that, we generally rely on the winter season, where we get multiple Pacific storms coming in and covering a wide area with rain and snow,' the meteorologist said. 'That can make a significant impact on drought.'
Meanwhile, St Louis was drenched in a raging storm that obliterated a 100-year record for rainfall - reaching dangerous levels as trapped children and families were rescued from submerged buildings.
It comes less than a week after 85million Americans were sent sweltering in record-breaking heatwaves that were 13F above the average - killing two people in New York and Pennsylvania.
Chaotic weather systems battered states across the US, including torrential flooding and danger-to-life thunderstorms in Kentucky and Missouri.
LAS VEGAS: A road crew blocks the flooded Charleston Blvd. at South Spencer Street as a powerful storm moves through the area on Thursday, July 28
Driver Miguel Reyes checks out his vehicle stuck in a construction hole due to flooding along Charleston Blvd. adjacent to Tacos El Gordon as a powerful storm moves through the area on Thursday, July 28, in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS: Water is shown pouring through the roofs of a casino and soaking the carpet while and people were filmed drenched by the torrential rain
