Natchez Record Flood Means Boon and Bust for Old Gambling Town

Sherry Harmon looked out the window and shook her head at a temporary levee of plastic and sand, all that is keeping the Mississippi River from taking a seat by the bar at Natchez’s Magnolia Grill.

“I think that wall had kept us open,” said Harmon, 47, who lives across the river from the Mississippi town in Vidalia, Louisiana. The staff had just been told to close the popular eatery, which behind its barrier is the last dry spot on Silver Street before the river starts.