By DAVID DISHNEAU
The Associated Press
GULFPORT – The Grand Casino Gulfport, one of the glitzy gambling barges that helped turn Mississippi’s Gulf Coast into a tourist magnet, went bust Wednesday – literally.
Three controlled explosions in rapid succession brought down a 50-foot-tall section of the casino that was heaved onto U.S. 90 when Hurricane Katrina roared ashore Aug. 29. The Mississippi Department of Transportation, which oversaw the demolition, hopes to reopen the stretch of highway in downtown Gulfport within 10 days, spokeswoman Gae Blain said.
“Everything was a success,” she said.
More than half of the 13 casinos in Gulfport, Biloxi and Bay St. Louis were destroyed by the hurricane, putting thousands out of work and crippling the state’s $2.7 billion gambling industry.
The Grand is owned by Las Vegas-based Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., which had two of its four other Mississippi casinos damaged by the storm. Chairman Gary Loveman says Harrah’s will rebuild on the Gulf Coast, but the company wants the state law that legalized floating casinos in 1990 changed to allow gambling halls on land – where they presumably would be safer from storms. State lawmakers are expected to consider a law change when they convene Tuesday in Jackson. Read the rest of this entry »
It seems as I find more and more articles, that the new Hard Rock Casino in Biloxi will have to be basically rebuilt. It seemed after the initial damage assestment, that is mostly comestic damage and structural damage to the casino barge. Now it looks like it might be more than that.
Here is in excerpt from the Orlando Sentinel.
Hard Rock Cafe International Inc., which had been on the verge of opening its new 11-story hotel and casino in Biloxi, Miss., where boat- and barge-based gambling has taken hold during the past decade. The $235 million project will now have to be rebuilt, however. The work is expected to take more than a year for the Orlando-based company to complete. A spokeswoman in New York said Friday that Hard Rock would not comment further. A toll-free number, 1-888-886-0920, has been set up for employees with information on pay and on job opportunities outside the storm-damage area.
Here is a smaller, older picture showing some damage to the Hard Rock Biloxi.
By Edwin Garcia
KNIGHT RIDDER
MOBILE, Ala. – Scores of passengers with luggage in hand boarded the Carnival Holiday cruise ship Sunday for a most unusual voyage.
The passengers are Hurricane Katrina evacuees from southern Mississippi, and the 727-foot-ship will be their shelter for as long as six months.
The vessel eventually will move west to Pascagoula, Miss., where repairs to the port are under way.
And despite how the huge, white ship looks from the outside, officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which contracted with Carnival, are adamant about the vessel’s purpose. Read the rest of this entry »
