(Wall Street Journal) — The Mississippi River crested Tuesday at Memphis, Tenn., and kept rising to the south, dealing a blow to Mississippi’s gambling and agriculture industries.  Fifteen of the state’s 19 riverside casinos have been closed because of flooding, with another scheduled to shut down Wednesday, said Larry Gregory, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission.   The gambling facilities, stretching from Tunica in the north to Natchez in the south, employ about 13,000 people and generate some $13 million a month in state and local taxes.  The casinos themselves float, but access ramps and parking lots are under water. It could take weeks for the casinos to reopen, said Mr. Gregory.  The state’s gambling industry “has been hit hard by the recession,” said Webster Franklin, president of the Tunica Convention and Visitors Bureau. “The flood has come at a time when we’d hoped to begin rebounding.”  In Memphis, the river hit its expected high of 47.8 feet, but it will take weeks for the water to recede. Area levees were holding.

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