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A series of images showing damage to casinos in Louisiana and Mississippi caused by Hurricane Katrina in late August 2005. Casino Barge 01 by Greg Reed 2. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Gregory said casino companies will find it tougher to convince their own shareholders about once again operating offshore floating casinos.
In Charles L. Sullivan latest work, 'Beauvoir: Katrina Plus Ten,' a souvenir edition of 1,000 numbered copies now on sale at the historic last home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Biloxi, the author compares Hurricanes Camille and Katrina and surmises the Saffir-Simpson Scale took its own blows from the latter storm.
This is Sullivan's account:
'When Katrina struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast Panhandle (the six southern counties), it contained 171,000 homes. Katrina destroyed 65,000 of these, inflicted major damage on 35,000 more, and dealt minor damage to 51,300 homes. Only 16,000 homes in the Panhandle escaped damage. So, more than one third of South Mississippi's dwellings were destroyed, and nearly three fourths were uninhabitable.
'Katrina destroyed an additional 3,500 homes in the 150 miles of Mississippi north of the Coast. In Katrina's wake 85 percent of the lights in the entire state were out for a time. Katrina's disaster zone totaled 28,000 square miles across four states. In contrast, Camille destroyed 'only' 5,662 homes and utterly destroyed a 'paltry' 68 square miles primarily from Pass Christian to the east along a 'mere' 30-mile front. Camille killed at least 375 people, 172 of whom were Mississippians.
'Never did anyone who lived through Camille even dream that any hurricane could be worse. That belief cost some people their lives. As Biloxi Mayor A. J. Holloway said the day after Katrina, 'It looks like Hurricane Camille killed a lot more people yesterday than it did in 1969.'
'After the next horror, someone will say, 'It looks like Katrina killed a lot more people yesterday than it did in 2005.' Katrina killed at least 1,300 among which were 228 known Mississippians.
'It could be that the Saffir-Simpson Scale killed some of the people who died in Katrina.
'Herbert Saffir, a structural engineer, began working on his hurricane winds damage scale in 1969. In 1972, he met Robert H. Simpson, the first Director of the National Hurricane Center. Simpson added measurements for flooding and storm surge to the portion developed by Saffir, and the Saffir-Simpson Scale was born.
'First used in hurricane advisories in 1975, the scale has become to hurricanes what the Richter Scale is to earthquakes. The Saffir-Simpson Scale fitted Camille perfectly and, indeed, was modeled on that storm to a degree. Everyone understood when a small and compact Cat 5, (190-mph Camille) battered Pass Christian with a 30-foot surge. As was expected the surge lessened as one went to the east with Pascagoula experiencing perhaps eight feet from Camille.
'But, Katrina defied comprehension.
'Huge Katrina, though a 175-mph Cat 5 the day before landfall, struck Buras, La., as a Cat 4 and was only a Cat 3 when it struck Pearlington. Yet it swept the Mississippi Gulf Coast with a Cat 5 surge ranging from more than 30 feet on the shores of the Bay of St. Louis down to a horrendous twenty feet at Pascagoula at the other end of the Coast.
'According to the Saffir-Simpson Scale, the Bay of St. Louis should have gotten nine to twelve feet of surge and Pascagoula barely a ripple. Herbert Saffir, aged 88 when he visited the Coast in November 2005, was asked to comment on the seeming incongruity of a Cat 3 throwing a Cat 5 surge. He said that when Katrina was a Cat 5 over the open Gulf of Mexico, it pushed forth a Cat 5 surge wave. Then when the storm degraded first to a Cat 4 and then to a Cat 3, those winds were sufficient to keep the Cat 5 surge moving.
'It would appear that the Saffir-Simpson Scale does not take into account the elements that accounted for the devastation of the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Katrina--previous high category surge, size of the storm, and local topography.
Hurricane Katrina Casino Barge Pictures
'Katrina not only destroyed the Mississippi Gulf Coast, it also, in effect, destroyed the Saffir-Simpson Scale.'
Hurricane Katrina Casino Barge Rental
The 28-page illustrated booklet is available at Beauvoir's library gift shop for $12.95 a copy with proceeds going for construction of displays for the library. It addresses three main topics: 'The Saga of Beauvoir,' 'The Friendship Flag,' and 'The Connecticut Sergeant's Sword.'
The owners of a Biloxi marina damaged by a casino-owned barge that came loose during Hurricane Katrina are considering an appeal of a Mississippi court ruling that the casino is not liable for the destruction.
Last week, the state Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling Palace Casino wasn’t liable for the damage to Bay Point High and Dry Marina in 2005.
A Harrison County judge ruled in favor of the casino in 2009.
Marina owner Doug Cruthirds and his attorney, William Guice III, told The Sun Herald that they may appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court.
“Basically they ruined me,” Cruthirds said.
Cruthirds said he lost the marina and his home to Katrina and now operates his yacht brokerage business out of the house he moved into after the storm.
The 20,000-square-foot warehouse he leased had more than 100 boats inside when Katrina hit.
The marina was northwest of where New Palace Casino LLC had two barges moored on the Biloxi Bay. The casino barge held in the storm surge but the barge that housed the SportsZone — a 15,000 square foot sports bar with slot machines — broke loose and, according to court records, floated across the bay and allegedly struck Bay Point Marina.
Keith Crosby, general manager of the Palace Casino, had no comment on the case.
Palace attorneys had argued Katrina was an “Act of God.” It was the duty of the Palace management to take steps to prevent injury that is “reasonably foreseeable,” the ruling said, but reasonable precautions could not have prevented damage from the storm.
The mooring was required to withstand a Category 4 hurricane with 155 mph winds and a 15-foot tidal surge and designed by a licensed engineer to withstand an 18-foot surge. Katrina’s storm surge was 23 feet in that area, court records said.
“New Palace took reasonable steps in mooring its barge in light of the applicable regulations and foreseeable weather conditions of Biloxi Bay,” wrote Appeals Judge Larry E. Roberts in the decision.
Cruthirds had sued the Palace for negligence.
“All I wanted was a couple hundred thousands so we could rebuild it,” he told the Sun Herald.
Cruthirds said he had to pay half the insurance check he received for damages to the owner of the building, who Cruthirds said canceled the remaining 20 years on his 30-year lease and now has the property zoned for a casino. Cruthirds spent the $90,000 he received in insurance on attorney fees.
Copyright 2020 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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