You have to feel for the people living along the Mighty Mississippi as the vein of America bleeds into communities located along its banks and destroys homes, property and lives as record spring flooding continues.
Tourism in communities like Memphis are being seriously affected - city officials in the place where Elvis' Graceland stands have been emphasising all week that the King's Memphis mansion where he is buried and other important tourist areas like Beale Street, the city's entertainment hub, have not been affected by the flooding.
But Mississippi's tiny Tunica, once the poorest region in the United States, is the place I really feel sorry for this morning.
Reports out of Tunica say the city's all-important gambling casinos, the lifeblood of the economy there-they generate almost $80 million U.S. a month in revenue, create much needed jobs in this desperately poor area and contribute almost $10 million a month to the community via taxes; money used to build schools - are almost all under water.
The area's golf courses, built to help attract high rollers to the casinos, are also under water and it will take months - maybe even a year - the clean the mess up.
Tunica, where I played golf on some great courses like Cottonwoods next to the Grand Casino Resort, River Bend ,built by Resorts Hollywood, and Tunica National, which lies in sight of the city's biggest casino, Harrah's, is one of the best-kept secrets in the golf area. Rounds there on courses that rank among America's Top 100 are cheap and the casinos, while not Las Vegas glamorous, are certainly fun places to hang out at night.
State laws demand that gambling take place on the river which is why Tunica's valuable casinos are built so close to the Mississippi. Maybe it's time the laws are changed since global warming is now changing the flow of the Mississippi.
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