Post Katrina photos and impressions of Biloxi, MS
Biloxi, Mississippi Post Katrina -- May 2007 Back to page 1, 2
Behind the big, missing mansions of the first, beach front, block many homes are still standing but with major damage, few roofs and no residents. I saw at least 4 or 5 families loading stuff from homes into trailers. Off the main road there are very few traffic signals working yet, some 19 months after the big storm. This area is still suffering. But there are casinos open and the main roads in and out are new and excellent. Signs of reconstruction are everywhere, especially right on the beach in the form of large luxury resorts and casinos.
Currently open are The Grand, Beua Rivage, Isle of Capri and Imperial Palace (IP) with others not far behind including the Hard Rock Casino. All are either brand new or rebuilt in the remains of an older hotel skeleton. Biloxi has made changes to the laws governing casino gaming. Pre-Katrina any gambling had to take place on the water. The Grand had a casino floating on a barge, attached to it's hotel by an enclosed walkway that spanned the beach and rt 90. Now Biloxi allows gaming on shore, the old Grand hotel building contains the brand new casino and completely stripped and refurbished hotel. As you can see in the photo the old walkway is still standing but ends suddenly one story above the beach. The building and floating 3 story casino were scattered inland by Katrina and have since been scooped up and removed.
You should find some excellent prices as they try to lure customers back to help with rebuilding costs. And it sure can't hurt the locals to start getting some tourists back. The beaches are open and almost vacant, at least at the time of my trip in May of 2007. It appears to me that Biloxi will return as an impoortant vacation destination.
This is the Grand Casino as seen from route 90 looking east. You cans see the old walkway crossing over the road and ending about one story above the beach. The building directly behind that is Isle of Capri (opened for business) with Casino Magic to the right of that on the beach.
Casino Magic was not open but I did get the feeling it would be some day.
The Hard Rock Casino was in the last stage of construction slated to be opened soon. But Katrina delayed that by a couple years, here it is on May 2, 2007 due, once again, to open soon.
This is the Grand in Gulfport, MS. The photo does not do it justice it is a nice looking building and its immediate surrounding property is well landscaped. It was hard to get to a place for a good photo because of all the construction zones. That walkway connects to another large building. The Grand is open.
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