Treasure Bay evacuates over broken sprinkler

BILOXI – Treasure Bay Casino evacuated about 20 die-hard gamblers around 4:15 a.m. Wednesday when a feeder band from Tropical Storm Cindy caused a tidal surge and wind gust that knocked loose a feeder pipe to a sprinkler system.

Bernie Burkholder, CEO of Treasure Bay Gaming & Resorts, closed the casino as a precaution because the sprinkler system is located on a fire escape. It reopened at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday.

Treasure Bay, which has born the brunt of past tropical storms, was the only casino on the Coast to close because of Cindy. A mishap at the President Casino occurred when a boat inside the barge featured in a promotional give-away broke one of the front windows.

“The ramp that the boat was on went up a little higher than we expected and the boat started sliding down,” said John Ferrucci, the casino’s chief operating officer. “We put it up against a door. It wound up putting a little too much pressure against a glass.”

Treasure Bay was relatively unscathed compared to the millions of dollars in damage it sustained during Hurricane Georges in 1998 and Tropical Storm Isidore in 2002.

Treasure Bay reinforced its moorings when repairs were made from the previous damage.

“There is literally no damage inside that boat,” Burkholder said.

The casino has longer-term plans to better protect itself from storm surges by moving to a new location east of where it is presently moored. A circuit judge blocked the move, contending that the Mississippi Gaming Commission exceeded its authority in granting a site permit for the casino to excavate filled tidelands to create a basin. Treasure Bay has appealed the decision.

It was a slow night for all the Coast’s casinos. The Weather Channel had set up camp on the beach where Treasure Bay could be seen in the background.

“You just aren’t going to get a lot of people coming down to the Mississippi Gulf Coast when The Weather Channel is here saying a storm is coming,” Burkholder said.

Source: Sun Herald

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