“Mob Attraction” inundated

… and not with customers unfortunately. Las Vegas is currently experiencing torrential downpours and flash flooding — including on the Strip. This suddenly closed the Tropicana Las Vegas‘ “Mob Attraction,” thanks to a wee bit of a design flaw. According to a Trop source, the Mob expo is just off the lowest point of the pool area. So when rainwater came sloshing down the landscaped “hills” surrounding it, the deluge burst an emergency-exit door and made a beeline for the Mob Attraction. The latter was quickly sandbagged, its electrical equipment unplugged. (It’d be a frightful shame if digitized Jimmy Caan got shorted out in mid-cliché.) The Attraction is temporarily on day-to-day status, post-flood, so double-check before paying a visit. They might still be sucking water out of the carpets tomorrow, from the sound of things. Alex Yemenidjian just can’t catch a break. The rainfall was so thick that The Rio could not be seen from Las Vegas Advisor offices … scarcely a block away. (There’s some kind of large, permanent-looking shed going up in the Rio parking lot. Any thoughts as to what it might be? An ongoing swap meet to sell Caesars Entertainment inventory and service that $20 billion debt?)

Update: The flood channel immediately north of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino leapt its banks and interdicted traffic on Paradise Road. No word yet on conditions beneath Imperial Palace, which Ralph Engelstad built right atop a wash.