Vegas casino power outage puts guests out
The Rio casino in Las Vegas is scrambling to find alternate lodging for guests after a power outage led to the evacuation of 900 rooms just before the busy New Year's Eve weekend.
A fuse shorted on Thursday in a backup generator that was powering the hotel's Masquerade Tower, said Richard Broome, a spokesman for the Rio.
The outage affects the fire control systems, so officials made visitors leave their rooms. It's expected to last at least until Friday.
"It all went dark, and then we heard a commotion in the hall," Amanda Paulsen, who was staying at the casino with her husband, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
"We went to look and someone said, 'The power's out, we have to leave.'"
The 2,500-room Rio, which was built in 1990 and is a short drive from the Las Vegas Strip, is one of the more affordable resorts in Las Vegas.
The timing of the outage is particularly problematic because it comes at one of the busiest and most lucrative weekends of the year for Las Vegas.
More than 300,000 visitors are expected to ring in the new year in Sin City, which is welcoming big-name musical acts and putting on an eight-minute pyrotechnic show that features fireworks launched from casino rooftops.
Broome said the Rio is already near capacity and will try to place guests at other Caesars-owned properties or at competitors' hotels if space runs out.
He added the company would determine any additional compensation for customers on a case-by-case basis.
The problem first emerged Wednesday when a plugged sink in a service area accidentally overflowed, shorting out the fuse in the main power system and causing a small electrical fire that prompted a more limited evacuation.
Management then relied on a backup generator, but that was later compromised by water from a fire sprinkler and it shorted early on Thursday.
Nobody was injured in the incident.
