What Lies Beneath Las Vegas Will Stun You

Bright Side

Beneath the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas, there’s a hidden world that most people don’t know about: a network of underground flood tunnels stretching for miles. Originally built to protect the city from flash floods, these tunnels have become home to a secret community of people seeking shelter from the scorching desert heat above. Many of the residents are kind and look out for one another, creating a unique underground society. The tunnels are dangerous, especially during storms when floodwaters can rush through without warning. It’s a stark contrast to the sparkling lights of Vegas above, reminding us that the city has layers far beyond the casinos and shows.  Credit: Drew Binsky: by Breadfam, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Drew_Binsky_travel_blogger.jpg Fernand Léger: by Carl Van Vechten, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fernand_L%C3%A9ger.jpg George Braque: by Public domain / Arquivo Nacional Collection, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_Braque_(sem_data).tiff Animation is created by Bright Side.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV   Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

00:00Where in the world can you find the Eiffel Tower just a few miles away from the Trevi Fountain?

00:06Yeah, you guessed it, Las Vegas.

00:08The city is famous for devouring 60,000 pounds of shrimp a day and hosting around 150 weddings every 24 hours.

00:18But here's the plot twist. There's a hidden world lying right beneath the neon lights.

00:26Welcome to Vegas number 2.

00:29It's not the spectacle you're used to, but it's every bit as fascinating.

00:33I'm talking about a sprawling network of tunnels over 600 miles long criss-crossing beneath the city built to divert pretty intense floods.

00:43You heard it correctly, floods.

00:46Vegas is an artificial city built in the middle of the Mojave Desert, where the average summer temperature is 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

00:54With this heat, it doesn't come as a surprise that water is scarce there.

00:58Vegas has very limited local water sources, so 90% of their water comes from the Colorado River.

01:05The rain and snowmelt from the Rocky Mountains is piped to Vegas over 100 miles away.

01:11Water is such a precious resource that homeowners living in the city's suburbs are fined if they overuse their water quota by, let's say, watering their lawns.

01:21And still, urban planners needed to come up with a gigantic system to stop floods.

01:28Vegas has really come a long way since its modest beginnings.

01:33A desert is rarely a place developers look at and say, let's build a megatown here.

01:39But Southern Nevada was a place full of gold, silver, and other types of ore.

01:44It was located between Los Angeles and Silver Lake City, which at the turn of the last century were pretty promising markets.

01:51There was only one thing missing, water.

01:56Developers already expected that if water could be found in the region, then the Vegas Valley would be fertile and rich.

02:03They did find a solution for artisan water, but then they had another problem.

02:10The thing about deserts is that when it rains, it pours.

02:14The region tends to get four inches of rainfall per year, but it rains three inches in a few hours, and there you have it, chaos.

02:22The hard soil can't absorb all the water, so the city needed to build another underground city to handle it.

02:30Nowadays, Las Vegas is one of the most visited cities in the United States, ranking spot number six.

02:37It receives around 30 million visitors annually.

02:40Plus, it's the entertainment capital of the world.

02:44So yes, authorities needed to figure out a way to prevent chaos from taking over every time it rained.

02:53It wasn't always like this.

02:55The worst flood in Vegas history happened in the 90s.

02:58A huge storm hit the city, flooding it, displacing more than 300 people and racking up nearly $20 million in damages.

03:07It all went down during the monsoon season, which is notorious for heavy rainfall.

03:12The Las Vegas Valley is nestled between mountains on three sides, kind of like a giant bull, which means it collects rainwater from every direction.

03:22After the 1990 flood, authorities took matters into their own hands and started to build the infrastructure we're talking about.

03:30Now these tunnels are tough enough to handle whatever the desert throws their way.

03:37Las Vegas is definitely one of the wildest cities on the planet and is famous for being one of the brightest spots on Earth.

03:45Back in 2010, NASA published an image taken by astronauts on the International Space Station of Las Vegas.

03:52The crew was blown away by how clearly those bright lights stood out.

03:56In fact, Vegas shines even brighter than densely populated places like Hong Kong and Japan.

04:03Although the city is all that bright on the surface, this is not the rule for the network of tunnels we're talking about.

04:10For hundreds of people, these tunnels are home.

04:13Some have even lived there for a decade or more.

04:16There are entrances to the tunnels all over town.

04:19They run under resorts such as Caesars Palace, the Rio, the Flamingo, and so on.

04:24Some tunnels are only 4 or 5 feet tall, but there are 15 feet long tunnels.

04:30Damp and dark, of course.

04:32Today, they don't just prevent flooding, they're home to vibrant communities.

04:37This is Paul.

04:39He's one of the most famous characters when it comes to the maze underground Vegas.

04:44He lived in the tunnels for 3 years.

04:46Now, he goes back there regularly whenever someone needs help getting out.

04:51In his first month in the tunnels, Paul was taken under the wing of a group of veterans.

04:56He quickly figured out that this maze-like city had its own set of social rules he needed to respect.

05:03Break them, and you could find yourself out on the street.

05:06Literally.

05:07Each tunnel has its own customs, rituals, and a few unofficial leaders who run the show.

05:13When newcomers arrive, they usually claim the bed at the entrance of a tunnel.

05:17Their job is to keep watch and report any suspicious sounds.

05:21If they step out of line, they might wake up to find their belongings mysteriously vanished.

05:30Life in the maze city has its fair share of quirks that resemble life up above.

05:35Some people bring along chairs, beds, tables, and even barbecue grills.

05:40Basically, whatever they can scavenge from curbs and dumpsters to spruce up their new digs.

05:46There's just one catch.

05:48The tunnels tend to soak up flood water, so they need to elevate their stuff a few inches off the ground.

05:53That's why you'll see beds and bookcases perched on makeshift stilts, keeping everything safe from rising waters.

06:01When the locals sense rain on the way, they scramble to gather anything they want to protect and haul it to the tunnel exits.

06:09There's no fresh water down there at all, and the only electricity comes from batteries.

06:14That's today's mission for Paul.

06:16He's going around handing out water, food, and flashlights to anyone who needs them.

06:21On top of that, he's letting folks know he's here to help those looking for a way out of the tunnels but feeling stuck.

06:28You know what's crazy?

06:30The name Las Vegas actually comes from the Spanish word, the meadows.

06:35But it's a desert now, isn't it?

06:37Well, in prehistoric times, Las Vegas was actually damp and green.

06:42The Las Vegas Springs were once located above ground, which created this green area.

06:48With time, the marsh eventually went underground, and the valley turned into the barren land it is today.

06:55If you're soaking up some Nevada sun at Caesars Palace, you'd never tell that there's a vibrant community living right under this famous hotel.

07:05Urban explorer Drew Binsky took a day to explore these cryptic tunnels.

07:10He was guided by Paul, since it's dangerous to go down there solo if you don't know anybody.

07:15It's pitch dark down there, and most residents don't know if it's day and night.

07:20It's pretty easy to lose track of time.

07:24Today, Paul is the executive director of Shine a Light, a non-profit outreach program.

07:30His role today is to help the people who live in the tunnels.

07:33The non-profit helps people to live better lives, either down there or up here.

07:39If they choose to leave the tunnels and begin a new life, Paul helps them with job training and shows the way on how to restart a life.

07:48It's not only humans that live in the tunnels, though. They've become a habitat of sorts.

07:53Birds have set up their places to live there, wild vegetation peeks through the cracks,

07:58and even a few adventurous goldfish have found their way upstream from outer water sources.

08:04These tunnels are also home to some of the most unique graffiti galleries in the United States.

08:10These artists tend to paint close to the entrances, since that's where they get more sunlight.

08:16You'll see an array of art over there, from mindless scrawls or thoughtless tags,

08:22to pretty refined works with solid, clean lines, a visible thought process,

08:27and styles that mimic those of painters Georges Graque or Fernand Léger.

08:33Who knew Las Vegas had so much more to offer than already meets the eye?

08:38That's it for today. So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.

08:44Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!

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