Balloons in power line blamed
BILOXI – It wasn’t cupid’s arrow that put out the lights on Valentine’s Day, but it might as well have been.
A bouquet of balloons floated free around 9:40 p.m. near the intersection of Division and Cuevas streets and got tangled in a primary power line, temporarily cutting off power to Biloxi casinos. It was just a glitch, except at the Beau Rivage.
The casino resort’s uninterrupted power source system malfunctioned, putting the 32-story building in the dark for about 25 minutes.
Some people dined by candlelight. Others got stuck in elevators.
Roger Gros, the editor of Global Gaming Business magazine, was among those trapped.
“I was out all day, and I had picked up some take-out food on my way back to the hotel,” Gros said. “I got back and in the elevator. There had been one woman on there with me. She got off on the floor before mine and then – boom! – everything went dark.”
For about 15 minutes, he wondered what was going on. Gros shouted back and forth with people stuck on the two other elevators in the shaft.
“I didn’t smell any smoke,” he said. “There didn’t seem to be any panic. It certainly wasn’t pleasant. I think that most people took it in stride.”
Finally, a message came over the elevator intercom, informing him about the power outage. He pried the doors open slightly, saw the elevator was stuck between floors and was able to get a glimmer of ambient light.
“I sat down and ate my dinner in the darkness,” he said. “I had fried chicken. It was lovely. If I had had a candle, it would have been very romantic.”
After 30 and 40 minutes in the stuck elevator, Gross said he was able to get out.
Biloxi firefighters and police were at the scene monitoring the elevators and assisting with crowd control.
“We didn’t have any real panic,” said Mary Cracchiolo, a spokeswoman for Beau Rivage. “No major problems were reported. The Mississippi Gaming Commission had us evacuate the barge. Folks were moved over to the buffet area and the atrium. There was minimal light and flashlights.”
Neither the Beau Rivage nor the Biloxi Fire Department could say how many people were trapped in elevators.
Rich Randall with the Mississippi Gaming Commission said the power outage at the other casinos ranged from a few seconds to a minute, so no evacuations were necessary at other casinos.
A crew from Mississippi Power discovered balloons stamped with Valentine decorations tangled in an electrical line several blocks from the casinos, said Cindy Duvall, a spokeswoman for the utility company.
Biloxi Deputy Fire Chief Kirk Noffsinger said the Beau Rivage is equipped with extensive backup systems so he was surprised to learn of the malfunction.
Engineers with Mississippi Power are working with Beau Rivage to correct problems in the casino’s backup power system to prevent any future problems.
The department responded with six units and 16 firefighters, including the battalion chief, who were there to rescue anyone from an elevator in the event of a medical emergency. The fire department had no reports of injuries related to the power interruption or evacuation.
“I think this is one of those real weird situations that usually doesn’t happen,” said Noffsinger.
Source: TOM WILEMON Sun Herald
LAS VEGAS — MGM Mirage Inc., the world’s second-largest gambling company, on Wednesday said its fourth-quarter profit more than doubled on profits from Las Vegas condominium sales and from insurance payouts and reopening its Mississippi casino after Hurricane Katrina.
Net income jumped to $201.6 million, or 69 cents per share, compared with $97.8 million, or 33 cents per share, during the same period a year ago. Net income from continuing operations was 68 cents per share.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were looking for earnings of 48 cents per share, excluding one-time items.
Morgan Stanley analyst Celeste Brown said after subtracting condo sales and insurance profits, net income was 46 cents per share and “comparable” to estimates.
“Overall it was kind of an unspectacular quarter. Solid but unspectacular,” said Keybanc Capital Markets analyst Dennis Forst. “The 68 (cents per share) got people more excited than it should have.”
After surging more than 5 percent in morning trading, MGM shares finished 14 cents higher at $70.38 on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company said it saw $86 million in income from Hurricane Katrina insurance recoveries. Property transactions, which include insurance recovery income from Katrina, contributed 17 cents per share. Profits from the sale of Tower 2 condominium units at The Signature at MGM Grand in Las Vegas contributed 15 cents per share to earnings.
The current quarter’s results also were reduced by a stock-based compensation charge of 3 cents per share and pre-opening and startup costs totaling 2 cents per share.
MGM said sales of condo units at its planned $7 billion CityCenter megaresort on the Las Vegas Strip, set to open in November 2009, were expected to bring in more revenue than expected.
The company said it had obtained purchase contracts on 90 percent of the 227 units at The Mandarin worth $613 million after they were made available for sale in mid-January. The company will not book the results until later quarters.
“It’s over $50 million more in profit, and that’s just the Mandarin,” Chief Financial Officer Jim Murren told The Associated Press. “This is a 10-round fight but we just about knocked them out in the first round.”
About $2.5 billion of CityCenter’s price tag is to be offset by proceeds from condo sales, but Murren said “it will be better than that probably.” The company said it had taken reservations on more than half of the 2,426 units in three other towers at CityCenter.
Quarterly net revenue rose 11 percent to $1.85 billion from $1.66 billion in the prior year, with the reconstructed Beau Rivage in Biloxi contributing $89 million of the increase. The $800 million resort reopened Aug. 29 after extensive repairs for hurricane damage.
Gambling revenue climbed 13 percent on strong Las Vegas Strip results, and the Beau Rivage.
Source: APÂ
Information from Mayor A.J. Holloway’s State of the City address:
Hurricane debris removal: 2.8 million cubic yards (enough to cover a football field and stand 133 stories high).
School enrollment: 22 percent less than pre-Katrina level of 6,100 students.
Casino hotel rooms: nearly 70 percent back up and running.
All hotel rooms: 55 percent back up and running.
Insurance coverage: 99.4 percent of $40 million in coverage received.
Keesler Air Force Base: $288 million project for 1,067 housing units.
City capital projects: $53 million with $60 million more in FEMA funding in the pipeline.
More information will be coming too:
Biloxi Damage
Biloxi Pictures
