Some of the Mississippi Gulf Coast's best-known casinos sustained extensive damage from Hurricane Katrina, reports today's Biloxi Sun-Herald.
"Grand Casino Biloxi washed across U.S. 90. Treasure Bay's pirate ship was beached. Beau Rivage still stood, while Hard Rock Casino — scheduled to open in early September - was half destroyed," the newspaper reports. "Hard Rock's signature guitar, touted as the world's largest, survived the lashing.
Gulf Coast casinos were especially vulnerable to Katrina. State law requires that the gambling halls sit above the water, where they are moored to the sea floor below. The hotels stand on land.
"The Hard Rock Casino on Casino Row in Biloxi, which was scheduled to open next week, will have to be rebuilt. The superstructure was severely damaged," the Biloxi Sun-Herald continues.
"There have been reports that there are several casino barges that were pulled out of water and onto land. Elvis Gates, a State Farm insurance agent in Long Beach, went to downtown to survey damage. He found nothing left.
Flooding continues today in New Orleans after the hurricane caused two levees to breach, sending water from Lake Pontchartrain, reports The Associated Press.
"Col. Rich Wagenaar of the Army Corps of Engineers said a breach in the eastern part of the city was causing flooding and 'significant evacuations' in Orleans and St. Bernard parishes. He did not know how many people were affected.
"Authorities said there was also a levee breach in the western part of the city that began Monday afternoon and may have grown overnight.
"Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said on CBS that it will be 'quite awhile' before those displaced by the hurricane can return, particularly in areas close to downtown New Orleans. In some places, 'it's going to be weeks at least before people can get back.' "
And when they do return, "it's going to be incredibly dangerous" because of structural damage to homes, diseases from animal carcasses and chemicals in homes, Brown said.
According to preliminary assessments by AIR Worldwide Corp., a risk assessment company, the insurance industry faces as much as $26 billion in claims from Katrina, reports The Associated Press.
"That would make Katrina more expensive than the previous record-setting storm, Hurricane Andrew, which caused some $21 billion in insured losses in 1992 to property in Florida and along the Gulf Coast.
"Mississippi's economy was dealt a blow that could run into the millions, as the storm shuttered the flashy casinos that dot its coast. The governor said emergency officials had reports of water reaching the third floors of some casinos."
A town-by-town report on the hurricane's impact offers a chilling accounting of destruction in the Biloxi-Gulfport region.
Business continues elsewhere despite the tragedy that has left at least 80 dead in one Mississippi coastal county.
A news release from priceline.com makes the case that Las Vegas, Chicago and New York City are among the financial beneficiaries of the change in holiday weekend travel plans caused by Katrina.
"As Hurricane Katrina works its way up from the south-central U.S., Labor Day travelers are opting to spend their upcoming long weekend in northern or western sections of the country, according to a priceline.com survey of approximately 30,000 hotel room booking requests made for the September 3-5 weekend," reads the release.
And file this one under the life continues heading: News of actor George Clooney's plans to develop that $3 billion hotel-casino-condo complex along Harmon Avenue near the Hard Rock is being played on the gossip page by a mix of newspapers throughout the country. It's right up there with Gwyneth's thoughts about the Brad-Jennifer break-up.
"Danny Ocean might be able to topple a casino with 11 skilled criminals, but George Clooney needs a bundle of money and a few business associates," begins an item that appears in several newspapers throughout the country.
