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Las Vegas is bracing for more rain and lightning Friday night — a day after Sin City was pummeled by downpours that flooded casinos on the Strip and turned streets into rivers.
The desert city may see another round of showers in the afternoon into evening, with the potential for gusty winds, lightning and even small hail — and residents can bet this won’t be the end of it, forecasters say.
“We’ll do the same dance tomorrow, with again potentially some storms in the area,” Fox Weather senior meteorologist Greg Diamond told The Post. “I think a little less in coverage than yesterday and today, but one still very much could pop up right over the city tomorrow.”
Thursday’s storm nearly matched in one day the rainfall total for the rest of the year — wild social media videos showed lightning flashing across the sky above the city, cars left stranded in water on the street and water pouring into Caesars Palace from ceiling light fixtures.
During Thursday’s rare storm, seven people were rescued from swift water and one house caught fire, Las Vegas Fire & Rescue said on Twitter. There were also 22 crashes and 15 outside fires reported.
A wind gust of 71 mph was recorded on the Las Vegas Strip, according to Fox Weather.
At the Circa, water poured into the sportsbook and leaked from a TV on the wall onto the floor, News3LV reported.
Vegas has an annual precipitation of only 4 inches, Britannica.com said, making it the driest major city in the US. From Jan. 1 until Wednesday, it received only 0.37 inches of rain — but 0.32 inches were recorded at the Harry Reid International Airport on Thursday alone, Diamond said.
Some “pockets” of the city experienced a full inch, according to the National Weather Service’s Las Vegas office.
The entire Southwest is experiencing a summer wet spell, and although it’s not clear if Las Vegas will get hit with floods again, there is one benefit for the typically humid city — it’s cooler than usual.
The highs for Friday were expected to be in the high 90s, which is below the 105 average for this time of year — a trend which can continue into next week, Diamond said.
“It’s all relative, but still it’s not as hot as it could be this time of the year,” he said.