A 1950s aerial view of the Flamingo Wash — before it was tamed 20 years later — shows where the flood waters gushed passed the Flamingo Capri during a good rain. Many of its motel rooms remained entombed in the garage of the Imperial Palace, which was built over it, until at least 2007. (Image: Vintage Las Vegas)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nVisitors have no reason to suspect the parking garage’s secondary function whenever flooding doesn’t occur \u2014 which in the desert is 99% of the time.<\/p>\n
Engelstad\u2019s solution wasn\u2019t a very good one. In 1983, an 8-foot wall of water gushed through the garage. It swept away 10 cars, muddied more than 20 ground-floor rooms and the casino floor, and chased 500 gamblers onto Las Vegas Boulevard. In 2004, two men had to be rescued by firefighters after their car stalled in flood water behind the garage, the same spot where six more people had to be rescued in 2017.<\/p>\n
But generally, only parking operations get affected. The garage closes to the public whenever a flood is predicted, and all first-floor cars are removed. Once the rain stops, the floodwaters recede, and it\u2019s back to business as usual. The stranding of cars on the garage\u2019s upper floors for a few hours is the worst that usually happens.<\/p>\n
No Better Solution<\/b><\/h2>\n
While the system is hardly optimal, according to a 2010 Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/em> article, <\/em>the Clark County Regional Flood Control District determined that it was impossible to install a better one without weakening the foundation of the Imperial Palace.<\/p>\n\n
When Harrah\u2019s Entertainment acquired the hotel in 2005, then-chairman Gary Loveman told investors it might be imploded to expand adjacent properties. This could have ended the ever-flooding parking garage once and for all. But then the Great Recession hit, and the debt-plagued company opted to build the Linq over the old bones of the Imperial Palace instead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
To this day, whenever the Clark County Regional Flood Control District predicts a big storm, its first warning call goes to the Linq. Not because it\u2019s in danger<\/em> of flooding, but because it\u2019s supposed<\/em> to.
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