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50 Years Ago Today: Hurricane Camille hits the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing 256
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Camille
Hurricane Camille as a powerful Category 5 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, on 16 August
Hurricane Camille was the second most intense tropical cyclone on record to strike the United States. The most intense storm of the 1969 Atlantic hurricane season, Camille originated as a tropical depression on August 14, south of Cuba, from a long-tracked tropical wave. Located in a favorable environment for strengthening, the storm quickly intensified into a Category 2 hurricane before striking the western part of Cuba on August 15. Emerging into the Gulf of Mexico, Camille underwent another period of rapid intensification and became a Category 5 hurricane the next day as it moved northward towards the Louisiana–Mississippi region. Despite weakening slightly on August 17, the hurricane quickly re-intensified back into a Category 5 hurricane before it made landfall a half-hour before midnight in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. At peak intensity, the hurricane had a minimum pressure of 900 mbar (26.58 inHg). This was the second-lowest pressure recorded for a U.S. landfall. Only the 1935 Labor Day hurricane had a lower pressure at landfall. As Camille pushed inland, it quickly weakened and was a tropical depression by the time it was over the Ohio Valley. Once it emerged offshore, Camille was able to restrengthen to a strong tropical storm, before it became extratropical on August 22. Camille was subsequently absorbed by a frontal storm over the North Atlantic on the same day.
Camille caused tremendous damage in its wake, and also produced a peak official storm surge of 24 feet (7.3 m). The hurricane flattened nearly everything along the coast of the U.S. state of Mississippi, and caused additional flooding and deaths inland while crossing the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. In the U.S., Camille killed more than 259 people and caused $1.42 billion in damages (equivalent to $9.7 billion in 2018).
<snip>
Impact
Louisiana
The pressure fell to 27.80 inches of mercury (941 hPa) at Garden Island. Winds gusted to 125 miles per hour (201 km/h) at Slidell as their pressure sank to 28.75 inches of mercury (974 hPa) on August 19. Almost total destruction was seen from Venice to Buras. Ostrica Lock measured a storm surge of 16 feet (4.9 m). Water overwashed U.S. Highway 90 to a depth of 10 feet (3.0 m). The highest rainfall report from the state was 5.23 inches (133 mm) from Slidell. Camille caused about $322 million (1969 dollars) of damage in Louisiana. The storm turned just in time to avoid a direct hit to the City of New Orleans, which was devastated just four years prior by Hurricane Betsy. The worst effects in New Orleans proper were flooding from some levees, particularly in the lowest lying areas, including the Lower Ninth Ward, which suffered the most severe flooding during Betsy.
Mississippi
Ships beached in Gulfport, Mississippi.
In Mississippi, Camille was significantly worse than Hurricane Betsy and a September 1947 hurricane. Electricity went out during Camille's approach to the Mississippi coastline. United States Highway 90 flooded as a large storm surge overtopped seawalls, leaving a barge along the highway in Gulfport. Fires consumed coastal communities, with the exceptions of Bay St. Louis and Waveland. Camille destroyed the antebellum Trinity Episcopal church in Pass Christian, taking 15 lives. The Dixie White House, where President Woodrow Wilson and his family once stayed, was badly damaged. In Biloxi, Mississippi, the storm surge reached the second floor of the structure.[12] The highest rainfall total recorded was 10.06 inches (256 mm) at the Mississippi Test Facility. Mississippi received the worst of the damage. Upon making landfall, Camille produced a 24 foot (7.3 m) storm surge. Along Mississippi's entire shore and for some three to four blocks inland, the destruction was nearly complete. The worst-hit areas were Clermont Harbor, Lakeshore, Waveland, Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, Long Beach, and the beachfront of Gulfport, Mississippi City, and Biloxi. One of Frank Lloyd Wright's waterfront houses for W. L. Fuller, in Pass Christian, was completely destroyed.
More than 11 inches (280 mm) of rain occurred in Hancock County, and most low-lying areas were flooded with up to 15 feet (4.6 m) of water. U.S. Highway 90, which is close to the shore, was broken up in many areas, and sand and debris blocked much of it. Totals say that 3,800 homes and businesses were completely destroyed. As Camille came ashore, it passed over Ship Island, off the coast of Mississippi; Camille's strong storm surge and torrential rains literally split the island in two: the body of water between West Ship Island and East Ship Island is now called "Camille's Cut". Camille had significant ecological effects in the Gulf Coast region. A barrier island chain off the coast of Mississippi and 70% of Dauphin Island were completely inundated by the storm's surge. Camille caused about $950 million (1969 dollars) of damage in Mississippi.
Hurricane Party
Richelieu Apartments before Camille
Richelieu Apartments after Camille
One persistent account about Camille states that 24 people held a "hurricane party" on the third floor of the Richelieu Manor Apartments in Pass Christian, Mississippi, in the path of the eyewall as it made landfall. The high storm surge flooded and destroyed the building, killing all but one person. Who the survivor is, how many party guests there were, and just how far away the sole survivor was swept by the storm varies with the recounting.
News footage from Hurricane Camille was used in the 1974 ABC made-for-TV movie titled Hurricane, which also features a plotline based on the Richelieu Manor hurricane party that never happened. Well-known stars in the film included Will Geer and Michael Learned as NWS meteorologists tracking the storm; Larry Hagman and Jessica Walter as a vacationing couple who get caught in the storm on their boat, and are actually drawn into the eye of the hurricane; and Martin Milner as the Air Force Major who flies over the storm and reports their location (so they can be rescued by a Navy submarine). One of the plotlines does feature a group of people holding a hurricane party in the home of Bert Pearson, played by Frank Sutton (best known for playing Sargent Carter on Gomer Pyle USMC). Only Jim, played by Patrick Duffy, and his wife refuse to join the party. Pearson and his guests turn out the lights and hide when a Highway Patrolman checks whether the building has been entirely evacuated. Afterward, the party resumes and the guests are oblivious to any danger, until the storm strikes, knocking in the wall and causing other major damage. When Pearson awakes the next morning after the storm has passed, he discovers his wife has been killed.
An episode of the NBC series Quantum Leap also incorporated the apocryphal party into a story set in 1969, in a town that gets struck by Hurricane Camille.
Twenty-three people are known to have stayed in the Richelieu Manor Apartments during the hurricane, eight of whom died despite taking all precautions they knew in order to secure the building. The tale of the non-existent party, and the lone survivor when there were 15, apparently originated with survivor Mary Ann Gerlach, who also told her story in the NOVA episode Hurricane! (Nova). Another survivor, Ben Duckworth, has expressed irritation at the story. There was no hurricane party. Duckworth reiterated in 2001. We were exhausted from boarding up windows and helping the police move cars. We were too tired to party. I can't tell you why that story persists, or why people didn't put two and two together. I guess the hurricane party makes a good story.
The site of the Richelieu Apartments, the corner of Henderson Avenue and U.S. 90 in Pass Christian, later became a shopping center. The shopping center was later destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Alabama and Florida
Alabama also experienced damage along U.S. Highway 90: 26,000 homes and over 1,000 businesses were wiped out completely across the state of Alabama. Camille's large circulation also resulted in a 3-to-5-foot (0.91 to 1.52 m) storm surge in Apalachicola, Florida. The highest rainfall report received within Alabama was 6.52 inches (166 mm) two miles northeast of Fairhope. Camille caused about $8 million (1969 dollars) of damage in Alabama. Places farther east across the western Florida panhandle saw lesser rains, as 4.16 inches (106 mm) was measured at Pensacola Naval Air Station.
Damage from Camille
</snip>
Hurricane Camille as a powerful Category 5 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, on 16 August
Hurricane Camille was the second most intense tropical cyclone on record to strike the United States. The most intense storm of the 1969 Atlantic hurricane season, Camille originated as a tropical depression on August 14, south of Cuba, from a long-tracked tropical wave. Located in a favorable environment for strengthening, the storm quickly intensified into a Category 2 hurricane before striking the western part of Cuba on August 15. Emerging into the Gulf of Mexico, Camille underwent another period of rapid intensification and became a Category 5 hurricane the next day as it moved northward towards the Louisiana–Mississippi region. Despite weakening slightly on August 17, the hurricane quickly re-intensified back into a Category 5 hurricane before it made landfall a half-hour before midnight in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. At peak intensity, the hurricane had a minimum pressure of 900 mbar (26.58 inHg). This was the second-lowest pressure recorded for a U.S. landfall. Only the 1935 Labor Day hurricane had a lower pressure at landfall. As Camille pushed inland, it quickly weakened and was a tropical depression by the time it was over the Ohio Valley. Once it emerged offshore, Camille was able to restrengthen to a strong tropical storm, before it became extratropical on August 22. Camille was subsequently absorbed by a frontal storm over the North Atlantic on the same day.
Camille caused tremendous damage in its wake, and also produced a peak official storm surge of 24 feet (7.3 m). The hurricane flattened nearly everything along the coast of the U.S. state of Mississippi, and caused additional flooding and deaths inland while crossing the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. In the U.S., Camille killed more than 259 people and caused $1.42 billion in damages (equivalent to $9.7 billion in 2018).
<snip>
Impact
Louisiana
The pressure fell to 27.80 inches of mercury (941 hPa) at Garden Island. Winds gusted to 125 miles per hour (201 km/h) at Slidell as their pressure sank to 28.75 inches of mercury (974 hPa) on August 19. Almost total destruction was seen from Venice to Buras. Ostrica Lock measured a storm surge of 16 feet (4.9 m). Water overwashed U.S. Highway 90 to a depth of 10 feet (3.0 m). The highest rainfall report from the state was 5.23 inches (133 mm) from Slidell. Camille caused about $322 million (1969 dollars) of damage in Louisiana. The storm turned just in time to avoid a direct hit to the City of New Orleans, which was devastated just four years prior by Hurricane Betsy. The worst effects in New Orleans proper were flooding from some levees, particularly in the lowest lying areas, including the Lower Ninth Ward, which suffered the most severe flooding during Betsy.
Mississippi
Ships beached in Gulfport, Mississippi.
In Mississippi, Camille was significantly worse than Hurricane Betsy and a September 1947 hurricane. Electricity went out during Camille's approach to the Mississippi coastline. United States Highway 90 flooded as a large storm surge overtopped seawalls, leaving a barge along the highway in Gulfport. Fires consumed coastal communities, with the exceptions of Bay St. Louis and Waveland. Camille destroyed the antebellum Trinity Episcopal church in Pass Christian, taking 15 lives. The Dixie White House, where President Woodrow Wilson and his family once stayed, was badly damaged. In Biloxi, Mississippi, the storm surge reached the second floor of the structure.[12] The highest rainfall total recorded was 10.06 inches (256 mm) at the Mississippi Test Facility. Mississippi received the worst of the damage. Upon making landfall, Camille produced a 24 foot (7.3 m) storm surge. Along Mississippi's entire shore and for some three to four blocks inland, the destruction was nearly complete. The worst-hit areas were Clermont Harbor, Lakeshore, Waveland, Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, Long Beach, and the beachfront of Gulfport, Mississippi City, and Biloxi. One of Frank Lloyd Wright's waterfront houses for W. L. Fuller, in Pass Christian, was completely destroyed.
More than 11 inches (280 mm) of rain occurred in Hancock County, and most low-lying areas were flooded with up to 15 feet (4.6 m) of water. U.S. Highway 90, which is close to the shore, was broken up in many areas, and sand and debris blocked much of it. Totals say that 3,800 homes and businesses were completely destroyed. As Camille came ashore, it passed over Ship Island, off the coast of Mississippi; Camille's strong storm surge and torrential rains literally split the island in two: the body of water between West Ship Island and East Ship Island is now called "Camille's Cut". Camille had significant ecological effects in the Gulf Coast region. A barrier island chain off the coast of Mississippi and 70% of Dauphin Island were completely inundated by the storm's surge. Camille caused about $950 million (1969 dollars) of damage in Mississippi.
Hurricane Party
Richelieu Apartments before Camille
Richelieu Apartments after Camille
One persistent account about Camille states that 24 people held a "hurricane party" on the third floor of the Richelieu Manor Apartments in Pass Christian, Mississippi, in the path of the eyewall as it made landfall. The high storm surge flooded and destroyed the building, killing all but one person. Who the survivor is, how many party guests there were, and just how far away the sole survivor was swept by the storm varies with the recounting.
News footage from Hurricane Camille was used in the 1974 ABC made-for-TV movie titled Hurricane, which also features a plotline based on the Richelieu Manor hurricane party that never happened. Well-known stars in the film included Will Geer and Michael Learned as NWS meteorologists tracking the storm; Larry Hagman and Jessica Walter as a vacationing couple who get caught in the storm on their boat, and are actually drawn into the eye of the hurricane; and Martin Milner as the Air Force Major who flies over the storm and reports their location (so they can be rescued by a Navy submarine). One of the plotlines does feature a group of people holding a hurricane party in the home of Bert Pearson, played by Frank Sutton (best known for playing Sargent Carter on Gomer Pyle USMC). Only Jim, played by Patrick Duffy, and his wife refuse to join the party. Pearson and his guests turn out the lights and hide when a Highway Patrolman checks whether the building has been entirely evacuated. Afterward, the party resumes and the guests are oblivious to any danger, until the storm strikes, knocking in the wall and causing other major damage. When Pearson awakes the next morning after the storm has passed, he discovers his wife has been killed.
An episode of the NBC series Quantum Leap also incorporated the apocryphal party into a story set in 1969, in a town that gets struck by Hurricane Camille.
Twenty-three people are known to have stayed in the Richelieu Manor Apartments during the hurricane, eight of whom died despite taking all precautions they knew in order to secure the building. The tale of the non-existent party, and the lone survivor when there were 15, apparently originated with survivor Mary Ann Gerlach, who also told her story in the NOVA episode Hurricane! (Nova). Another survivor, Ben Duckworth, has expressed irritation at the story. There was no hurricane party. Duckworth reiterated in 2001. We were exhausted from boarding up windows and helping the police move cars. We were too tired to party. I can't tell you why that story persists, or why people didn't put two and two together. I guess the hurricane party makes a good story.
The site of the Richelieu Apartments, the corner of Henderson Avenue and U.S. 90 in Pass Christian, later became a shopping center. The shopping center was later destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Alabama and Florida
Alabama also experienced damage along U.S. Highway 90: 26,000 homes and over 1,000 businesses were wiped out completely across the state of Alabama. Camille's large circulation also resulted in a 3-to-5-foot (0.91 to 1.52 m) storm surge in Apalachicola, Florida. The highest rainfall report received within Alabama was 6.52 inches (166 mm) two miles northeast of Fairhope. Camille caused about $8 million (1969 dollars) of damage in Alabama. Places farther east across the western Florida panhandle saw lesser rains, as 4.16 inches (106 mm) was measured at Pensacola Naval Air Station.
Damage from Camille
</snip>
11 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
The good news - this is all that's on the horizon today
Photos: Hurricane Camille's deadly path — from Mississippi to Virginia — 50 years ago
7 hrs ago
On Aug. 17, 1969, Hurricane Camille slammed into the Mississippi coast as a Category 5 storm that was blamed for 256 U.S. deaths, three in Cuba. The storm had maximum sustained winds estimated at nearly 200 mph and a devastating storm surge. It caused roughly $1.4 billion in damage at the time and was blamed for 143 deaths on the Gulf Coast, 113 deaths from flooding in Virginia and three deaths in Cuba. Its maximum sustained winds reached 190 mph
....
Camille: Virginia
The devastation near Woods Mill along U.S. 29 where the Rockfish River crosses U.S. 29 and Va.
Brower York
{snip}
7 hrs ago
On Aug. 17, 1969, Hurricane Camille slammed into the Mississippi coast as a Category 5 storm that was blamed for 256 U.S. deaths, three in Cuba. The storm had maximum sustained winds estimated at nearly 200 mph and a devastating storm surge. It caused roughly $1.4 billion in damage at the time and was blamed for 143 deaths on the Gulf Coast, 113 deaths from flooding in Virginia and three deaths in Cuba. Its maximum sustained winds reached 190 mph
....
Camille: Virginia
The devastation near Woods Mill along U.S. 29 where the Rockfish River crosses U.S. 29 and Va.
Brower York
{snip}
