Flash floods tear down Las Vegas strip leaving casinos and gamblers soaked as storms batter the city

Casinos and hotels are semi-underwater in flash flooding in Las Vegas while children are feared dead in Kentucky after the state was hit with its worst deluge in history.

Chaotic weather systems are battering states across the US, including torrential flooding and danger-to-life thunderstorms in Kentucky, Missouri, and intense downpours in Nevada.

St Louis has been 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.

We round up the intense weather conditions Americans are currently facing in different states.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Nevada’s capital city has been 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.

Authorities warned last night that more flooding is on the way as the storm continues to rage on.

The iconic Caesar’s Palace was flooded, online video showed.

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 gasps 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 told  The New York Post.

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.

Footage shows a torrent of water cascade through the roof after the storm dislodged one of the panels, according to punters who filmed the bad weather.

Another panel gives way, prompting shouts from the crowd below.

Hotel residents filmed their yards filling up with water as rain battered the doors and windows through the night.

The monsoon season in Nevada happens between July and September, although flashfloods in Vegas itself are rare.

No injuries have yet been reported. 

St Louis, Missouri

Missouri’s St Louis has seen catastrophic flooding this week with rainfall reaching an all-time high for the past 100 years.

The raging flash floods over the week have washed out the century-old record of 6.85′, which was previously set on August 20th 1915.

The region has seen major flood damage – and city officials said that they are preparing for even more rain to fall.

Two people have so far died in the St Louis floods after a man’s body was found on Wednesday about a mile from his abandoned semi-trailer truck. A second man in his 60s was found dead on Tuesday after his car was found covered in more than 8 feet of rainwater.

Drivers were left stranded by the once-in-a-century deluge – while other parts of the country have been scorched in coast-to-coast record-breaking heatwave during a week of tumultuous weather alerts.

Yesterday, six children and 14 adults were rescued from a St Louis daycare center after it was inundated with four foot floodwaters – and electrical sockets began to spark after the water touched them.

St. Louis firefighters with Company 29 were able to rescue 10 to 20 people, including at adult camp counselors, at the Cornerstone Institutional Baptist Church in what was described by fire spokesman Nick Dunne as ‘thigh-high water.’

A fire department spokesman said six children were rescued, while the others freed were adults.

The National Weather Service of St Louis has issued a Flash Flood Emergency for the city and advised residents to seek higher ground and avoid walking or driving through flooded areas.

They recorded 8.81 inches of rainfall from midnight Monday to 9am Tuesday morning after the thunderstorms eased across the area by mid-morning.

Terrified residents posted alarming videos and photos of submerged cars and flooded basements on social media as the catastrophic flood levels continued to rise.

Images of Forest Park DeBaliviere Metrolink station in St Louis showed the tracks and platforms completely under water – with just half of the information boards and steps still visible.

Interstate 70 east of Mid Rivers Mall Drive near Costco was also rendered completely impassable by the flash flooding.

Highway 61 near Flint Hill also was closed due to the high water. The Fire Department reported that several cars were stranded on the Interstate 44.

Firefighters in St Louis were scrambling to search for stranded people in flooded vehicles.

Kentucky 

The catastrophic downpours have obliterated entire towns in Kentucky – submerging houses, cars, and buildings in deadly flood water as emergency services desperately scramble to save those who are trapped.

Disastrous flash floods in the area have killed at least 16 people in Kentucky on Friday.

The death toll is expected to double, and children are expected to be among the deceased.

Raging thunderstorms have pummeled the area, causing mudslides and years worth of damage in what has been Kentucky’s most devastating flood in history.

It’s feared that waterlocked, saturated ground will continue to swell while rivers and creeks are expected to burst their banks with additional downpours this morning.

It will take the hundreds of people whose homes have been submerged in the dire flooding years to rebuild and recover from this cataclysmic disaster, Governor of Kentucky Andy Beshear said on Friday.

Devastating images show the catastrophic destruction the flooding has caused, with vehicles floating through streets which now resemble rivers and lakes.

Homes and businesses have been nearly submerged up to their rooves in the unrelenting deadly torrent – as 18 more hours of rainfall is expected on Friday before the deluge eases on the weekend.

Residents have been forced to climb trees and scramble to rooftops to look for safety as many locations in eastern Kentucky exceeded 10 inches of rain in the last 24 hours.

A series of storms drenching the eastern part of the state has dropped water that has yet to crest, leaving damage that could take years to repair, said Beshear.

The Governor declared a state of emergency in six counties on Thursday morning.

Rain water was as high as the leaves of nearby trees and power poles were sticking up from greenish brown water, images from the destruction revealed.

Yesterday, the state activated the National Guard and the state police to use helicopters and boats to rescue people marooned among the floodwaters.

Dramatic drone footage over Hindman, one of the hardest hit cities in eastern Kentucky, shows several homes and buildings almost completely submerged by the flooding, with only their rooftops of some visible.

Breathitt County Emergency Management Director Chris Friley, who is overseeing the damage in one of the hardest hits areas, said on Thursday that the damage over the last day went beyond what previous flooding had done in recent years.

The news comes after six children and 14 adults were rescued from a St Louis daycare center after it was inundated with four foot floodwaters – and electrical sockets began to spark after the water touched them.

West Virginia

Parts of West Virginia, especially those bordering Kentucky, have been put on flood watch after thunderstorms brought intense downpours to the area.

Ethan Wriston, a watch center associate with the West Virginia Emergency Management Division, said that there had not been any deaths related to the floods recorded in his state on Friday morning.

Governor Jim Justice of West Virginia has deployed the state’s National Guard to help Kentucky respond to the ravaging floods there.

But despite the rainfall, there are no active shelters currently in place, and no reports of homes being flooded or washed away in West Virginia.