Hurricane Katrina Casino Damage
admin 8/2/2022
- The riverboat-style casino, which has a 30,000 square-foot casino and three restaurants, received minimal damage from Hurricane Katrina and the surrounding area suffered very little in the way of flooding. However, the evacuation of New Orleans caused business to be disrupted.
- Katrina Casino damage a gallery curated by Gamingfloor A series of images showing damage to casinos in Louisiana and Mississippi caused by Hurricane Katrina in late August 2005.
- Before Hurricane Katrina, the Gulf Coast was the nation’s third-largest casino market, producing almost $1.23 billion in gaming revenue in 2004, trailing only Las Vegas and Atlantic City.
- Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 storm that made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast in August 2006. The storm triggered catastrophic flooding, particularly in the city of New Orleans.
Katrina Photos - Mississippi Coast Casinos
Page OnePage TwoPage Three-Biloxi Front BeachPage Four-Katrina SignsPage five Point Cadet/East Biloxi
Page 6 - Biloxi Landmarks Page 7 - Casinos Page 8 - Waveland HomesPage Nine - Waveland Distribution Center
Page 10 - Bay St. LouisPage 11 - Pass ChristianPage 12 - GulfportPage 13 - West Gulfport (3-Months After)
Page 14 - Pass Christian (4-Months After) New - Biloxi Point Cadet Homes 10 Months After
Beau Rivage shortly after Katrina | Treasure Bay shipwrecked |
Treasure Bay Casino barge | Six months after Katrina, work to demolish the Treasure Bay's Casino barge is underway. |
Treasure Bay Casino Main Building | Gaping hole in the Grand's Barge shows slots ready to play |
The Grand's Casino Barge Crushed Ohr Museum Building | The Grand's casino barge looking east on U.S.90 |
Biloxi Grand's main site is still closed six months after Katrina but the property is being maintained. | Grand's Biloxi Casino Barge six months after Katrina. Demolition is nearly complete. This photo is taken on March 5, 2006. |
Biloxi Casino Magic silhouetted looking west on U.S.90 photographed several weeks after Katrina. | Casino Magic six months after Katrina remains closed. No work is underway. No word on when the casino will reopen. |
Hard Rock suffered extensive damages. Photo shortly after Katrina. | Six months later, there is no work underway on the Hard Rock as the money for its repair is tied up in a legal issue. However, developers are maintaining the property. It's casino barge suffered catastrophic damages. |
President Casino Barge shortly after Katrina. | President Casino Barge five months after Katrina. |
Repairs are underway on the Palace Casino. Photo taken several weeks after Katrina. | Six months later, the Palace Casino is open with a new land-based casino inside its hotel. But repairs are still being made. |
Boomtown survived the storm on Back Bay, but damaged | Imperial Palace survived with only modest damages. |
Boomtown Casino six months after Katrina. Boomtown's casino barge has been taken to a Pascagoula Shipyard for repairs. It normally would be seen on the left side of the photo. The casino is set to reopen late in 2006. But look for a different configuration. Boomtown is plans to move its casino barge to a new mooring location. The fill dirt seen in this photo is just south of the new mooring location. | Imperial Palace is open. Photo six months after Katrina. |
Gulfport Grand suffered major damages. Harrah's, which owned the Gulfport Grand, has sold the property to the Copa's owners, who will open a new casino in the former Grand Oasis Hotel. | Gulfport Grand Entrance |
Copa Casino was destroyed | Gulfport Grand's Hotel |
Casino Row looking east. Harrah's recently demolished the Grand's Island View Hotel in the foreground right. The entire Grand Casino property will be redesigned.
| Biloxi Casino Row by Satellite Click on image for larger version - Sat Photo by NOAA
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Hurricane Katrina Asbestos Damage – Katrina Hits the Casinos
Beyond the property damage caused by flooding and the high winds, Hurricane Katrina also dealt a blow to the oil industry and the lucrative casinos that have been the economic engine for the region.
If you ever had any doubt about the intensity of Hurricane Katrina, all you had to do was travel along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Hurricane Katrina blasted that region, and upon seeing the destruction, you can understand the difficulties the region experienced in cleanup and recovery. Hurricane Katrina asbestos damage didn’t help.
In early 2006, we were asked to perform an asbestos survey in one of the casinos in Gulfport/Biloxi area. So I loaded up and drove over. While the TV news coverage showed the widespread destruction, this really was something you had to see with your own eyes to understand.
For those of you not familiar with “gaming” in the South (for some reason we don’t call it gambling – I guess to avoid some sort of negative association with gambling), casinos in most areas are built on boats. We are opposed to most land based casinos. While it’s true that our “gaming boats” are built over water, they’re permanently moored! That’s right – these boats aren’t intended to sail. That’s pretty ridiculous – if the boats aren’t ever supposed to leave the dock, then just build them on land and be done with it. I’m kind of tired of calling things something they’re not. Boats are boats, and buildings are buildings.
Anyway, sorry for the tangent. So I go over, and as I’m driving along the Gulf road, I’m looking to the right, expecting to see the “boat”. But it’s not there. Instead, I look to the left, a few hundred feet from the mooring point, and there’s the casino. Almost intact and sitting upright in a parking lot. But still, across the highway. And nope, the casino owners didn’t sail it there. The storm surge from Hurricane Katrina broke the casino loose and carried it across the highway and dropped it in that parking lot. As Sheriff Buford T. Justice said, “that was an attention getter”.
that’s where the casino was
- this is where Hurricane Katrina put the casino
So I surveyed the barge. As you can imagine, it was a mess inside. The barge was built in the early 1990’s, so I know some may ask why we sampled for asbestos at all. Well, for one thing, we were hired to do the asbestos survey. And our client is a very good demolition contractor who knows the best surprise is no surprise when it comes to environmental hazards. I thought it was a good idea, even if we found no asbestos.
As it turns out, we did find some asbestos in the casino – mastic (or glue or adhesive) behind these big mirrors contained asbestos. So don’t let anyone ever tell you that buildings constructed after 1985 don’t have asbestos. There’s no 100% reliable date cutoff to use as the sole criteria for determining whether or not a building contains asbestos.
- not surprised to find mold here
As you can see, they also experienced mold growth in the casino as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Considering the storm surge and displacement of the casino, the overall damage was no surprise. After the storms in 2004, and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, Gulf Coast residents don’t really enjoy talking about mold – for good reason.
Part of the survey included the administrative offices, a much older building. The building contained floor tile/mastic and transite, both containing asbestos. So they had some asbestos abatement and asbestos debris cleanup to perform before starting demolition.
- what a mess
Besides sharing a brief Hurricane Katrina story, what’s the point? Well, for one thing, don’t discount the power of storm surge. And the other is to remember that any building, regardless of construction date, may contain environmental hazards like asbestos and lead. And also remember that demolition and debris cleanup can be difficult, time consuming, and expensive, but keep an eye out for unexpected cleanup hurdles.
besides the obvious cleanup problems, keep an eye out for undiscovered environmental problems like asbestos and lead. I was too busy looking for cash or chips left behind – found nothing
You can still buy asbestos containing materials for use in construction, just as you can buy paint that contains lead. We can debate percentage of materials and whether or not materials are considered asbestos or lead containing, but I hope you get the point. Kind of like calling gambling “gaming” – as if that makes a difference.
Before you begin a renovation or demolition project, find out whether or not you’ll encounter environmental hazards like asbestos or lead.
Until the next episode:
Wynn’s a good guy to have around if you like corny jokes and want to solve mold problems