VICKSBURG — The Army Corps of Engineers said floodwaters continue to inch closer today to the top of Yazoo Backwater Levee.
Some of the worst flooding is in the area from Vicksburg northeast to Yazoo City, along the Yazoo River. The Yazoo Backwater Levee north of Vicksburg connects with the main Mississippi River levee. The Corps of Engineers officials had predicted that at least a foot of water could pour over the top of the levee, flooding tens of thousands of more acres of farmland in the lower Mississippi Delta.
However, the Corps says it has never overtopped since being built in the 1970s.
Corps spokesman Wayne Stroupe said officials said are waiting for updated river forecasts from the National Weather Service. Even then, he said if the levee overtops it would be only an inch or so.
"It's still wait and see. We have our fingers crossed," he said.
Corps hired Fordice Construction to cover about four-mile section of the levee with sheets of plastic to prevent the levee was eroding if it does overtop. Officials said it's the first time the plastic sheeting has been used in that way.
The latest projections were that the Mississippi River would crest today at Greenville at 63.9 feet, in Vicksburg at 57.5 feet Thursday and in Natchez at 63 feet Saturday.
Yet, authorities don't think more evacuations will be necessary from residential areas around Vicksburg. About 2,000 people have been forced from their homes there and more than 4,800 throughout the state.
The Gold Strike casino in Tunica County was to reopen today and two others may do so as soon as Thursday.
All but two of Mississippi's river casinos have been closed due to flooding. The river has already crested at Tunica and is starting to recede.
Webster Franklin, president of the Tunica and Convention Visitors Bureau, said today the opening of Gold Strike Casino and the anticipated opening of Horseshoe and Roadhouse over the next two days is a good sign for the area.
"For the last three weeks, we've had 9,600 employees who haven't been coming to work. We've had 20,000 to 25,000 tourists a day who haven't been coming here. Four-thousand-600 hotel rooms closed. So, the opening of a third of our market symbolizes almost a third of that coming back. We're still a long way from a full recovery, but at least we'll have some semblance of what Tunica was before the great flood of 2011."
He said the casinos reopening this week were in the least impacted area.
"Our other properties are working feverishly to reopen, but you can't access them. You still have to take a boat to get to Hollywood Resort, Sam's Town, The Fitz and Harrah's. The water is still at record levels." Franklin said.
Mississippi Gaming Commission director Larry Gregory said Gold Strike, Horseshoe and Roadhouse casinos "fared better than most of the other casinos."
Gregory said the tests include ensuring that gambling machines and surveillance systems are working properly and that water is safe for drinking and cooking.
River casinos employ more than 13,000 people and generate $10 million in state and local taxes a month. Two casinos in Vicksburg have remained open.
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