Jaw-dropping new video shows muddy, debris-filled water ripping through the Linq Hotel's parking garage on the Las Vegas Strip, after the remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel soaked the desert city on Sunday, October 11. Las Vegas picked up 1.08 inches of rain at Harry Reid International Airport, which smashed the old daily record of 0.78 inches set back in 2012 and prompted a flash flood warning for parts of the valley. That may sound small for most of America, but in one of the driest cities in the country, it was enough to send rushing, whitewater-style flows across streets and parking areas near the Strip. The garage is built to let stormwater flow right through it, a design meant to handle desert runoff, but this deluge showed how quickly that setup can flip into full-blown flooding.

Rachel had already pounded the Southern California coast earlier in the weekend, and even after losing its tropical strength, its moisture kept streaming inland and fueling flood threats across the Southwest. Flood watches stayed in effect around Las Vegas into early Monday, and forecasters had warned for days that the region faced an uncharacteristically wet stretch. Desert drainage systems are designed for short, sharp thunderstorms, not for a stream of tropical moisture dumping heavy rain in a compressed window, which is why even a record-setting inch or so was enough to overwhelm parts of the system. Some reports and local totals suggested higher rainfall in parts of the valley, so the full picture of the damage is still coming into focus. As these rare tropical remnants keep reaching places that rarely see them, the question is whether cities like Las Vegas are truly ready for the next one.