HURRICANE CAMILLE 40 years later

SUN HERALD ^ | August 16, 2009 | KAT BERGERON

[Islander7]

RON ELIAS/SUN HERALD ARCHIVES/1996 Downtown Pass Christain, on the morning of Aug. 18, was a
pile of rubble, as proven in this Daily Herald photograph. Some of the remaining buildings would later be
destroyed in Katrina, for Pass Christian once again got the high-water mark.

“Hurricane Watch Posted” warned the front page of The Daily Herald on Aug. 16, 1969. In a classic twist of irony, the Mississippi Coast newspaper advertised Pass Christian’s Moonlite Drive-In would, in a few days, show the film classic “Gone with the Wind.”

That was Saturday. Hurricane Camille struck Sunday night — 40 years ago Monday — with a vengeance few could fathom. For two decades the Storm King had tossed only mild zingers.

When Monday’s early-morning light revealed the Camille carnage, the Moonlite was literally gone with the wind. The 225-plus-mph winds pushed a 24-foot storm surge topped by 10-foot wave action.

[Shadowstrike]

I was three, going on four when Camille hit. It’s the first Hurricane I really remember.

My grand daddy was part of the clean up crew. That was the first time I remember seeing him cry.

[OrangeHoof]

Camille and Katrina were almost two different types of storms. Camille had ferocious winds and many tornadoes. Katrina had an incredible storm surge that swallowed up everything near the coast.

One wonders how Katrina would be remembered today if the levees had held. It wouldn’t have made a difference in Mississippi but I think Louisiana would have endured much better.

[Islander7]

I remember when President Nixon visited the Coast after Camille. Everyone was in awe that the President of the United States would actually visit Mississippi. His remarks:

Remarks Following Aerial Inspection of Damage Caused by Hurricane Camille in Mississippi.
September 8, 1969

Governor Williams, Senator Eastland, Senator Stennis, Chairman Colmer, the other distinguished Members of the Congress, the other distinguished guests here on the platform, and all of this magnificent crowd here in Gulfport, Mississippi:

I want to express appreciation to you for giving me and my wife such a warm welcome and to tell you that as I flew over the damage today in Mississippi, I could see that the facts that have been given to me before could not adequately state that damage.

As you know, this is the worst storm that has been recorded in 100 years of recording storms in the United States and that means that it probably is the worst in terms of damage, physically, that any State or any area has ever suffered.

As you know, thousands have been made homeless, hundreds are dead, hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage--all of this I saw before me as we flew over Mississippi today.

Then, for a few moments, as the plane landed and as we stepped out on the platform and looked at this huge crowd, I realized that whatever had happened to Mississippi from the standpoint of physical destruction, the spirit of the people of Mississippi is still high and it will continue to be high.

I am very proud as I stand before you as an American, not just as President of the United States but as an American speaking to my fellow Americans, to see such a wonderful spirit despite the adversity which you have suffered.

I do not want to sound now as if all that happened to you could turn out to be for the best. But could I for a moment remind this great audience of some of the lessons of history?

Throughout history we have found that great natural disasters have either made or broken civilization, and the same can be said of a man or a woman, a disaster can make or break him.

Also, throughout history we have found that when a people are able to survive a disaster that they then develop a greatness that otherwise they never would have had or never knew that they had, because what was required of them was to develop a new approach and a new spirit and a new way of life which they otherwise might never have discovered.

I refer, for example, to my own State of California. One of the most beautiful cities in the world is San Francisco, and yet San Francisco 60 years ago was leveled by an earthquake and a fire. It came back more beautiful than ever.

I refer in more recent times to Anchorage, Alaska. I saw the destruction there in that earthquake 5 years ago. Yet, Anchorage, Alaska, has come back and it is going to be a greater city and the people of Anchorage will have a greater challenge and will be a greater people than ever before.

I predict today that the people of Mississippi and particularly those that have suffered damage will come from this destruction and you will rise from it and be a greater people than was the case before. And we congratulate you for that kind of a spirit.

On the part of your Federal Government, I can certainly pledge to you a continuation of the interest that we have already shown, an interest that is not partisan-it represents all the people of this country; an interest in terms of all the departments of Government, all the agencies in Government; an interest which is shared by the Members of the House and the Senate, led by your own House and Senate delegation.

I can pledge to you, too, that what has happened in Mississippi, and also to the neighboring State of Louisiana and areas there, has touched the heart of the Nation and volunteer organizations are making their contributions.

I was touched on the night when I called the Bob Hope telethon to hear that over $ 1 million had been raised that very night from all over the Nation for the people here who suffered in Mississippi.1

I know, too, that here in this State, under the leadership of your Governor and working with the Members of the House and the Senate, and also the State legislature, that you have set up an unprecedented group of private citizens and government officials to work together for a new kind of cooperation, a plan in which you will not just rebuild as it was, what was old, but in which you will build a new area, not only new buildings, but new ideas and new opportunities for all of the people of this great State. What a challenge that is.

I am confident you are going to meet it. I am confident because of the words that I have heard during these past few minutes from the leaders of your State, both at the State level and your representatives in Washington, D.C.

But I am confident for another reason, for what I see before me here today, thousands of people. I saw your cars lined up for miles and I hear that some of you have been here since 2 o'clock this afternoon. I realize what you have done and the demonstration which this really symbolizes. And what it means is this: It means that no matter how many millions of dollars we get from Washington, no matter how much you are able to get from the State government or from your county government, no matter how much comes from the various volunteer organizations from all over America, that what really counts are the people.

Because, if the heart of the people and the spirit of the people and the strength of the people are not sound, then all of the money in the world will not help. As I come to Mississippi today, I say that the heart and the spirit and the strength of the people of Mississippi has never been stronger. And that means you are going forward to a greater future than ever before.

Thank you.

[Islander7]

I finished HS in May of 1969. One of my former classmates was at the party. She didn’t survive.

[Ditter]

This article calls Camile the worst natural disaster in our nations history. I thought that the Galveston storm of 1900 held that title. In Galveston there were 6,000 to 10,000 dead or unaccounted for and almost the entire town was wiped away. Camile was the strongest storm winds or the lowest pressure but it can’t hold a candle to the destruction and death of the 1900 storm in Galveston.

[4everontheRight]

I was at that stadium when Nixon spoke. I remember running with my mother to get good seats. Air Force 1 flew right over our heads...the airport and that municipal stadium were not very far from each other.
One of the main things I remember about Camille was the heat and the air after wards. With no air conditioning (from having no power) the heat in August was terrible and we had very little drinking water since it was being rationed. I had a nightmare about the storm and woke up during the night crying and my mother brought me a drink of water, barely enough to cover the bottom of the glass.
The air after a storm is indescribable really. Sort of like you walked into a room after all the air has been vacuumed out. It is hard to breathe in it.

[STONEWALLS]

.....if I remember right there was a famous hotel right there on hiway 90 called The Breakers....it has been there for years and was still standing after Camille, much to the satisfaction of local residents....however, engineers determined that it had been weakened and needed to be dynamited....a blasting crew came in and placed explosives...a big crowd turned out to watch the implosion....they chanted in unison 5-4-3-2-1-and KA-BOOM....when the dust settled, The Breakers still stood!....big cheer went up from the crowd....they were pulling for the old girl.

Later the blaster tried again and this time it worked.

[Islander7]

Unimaginably, Camille was eclipsed in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina, which approaches its fourth anniversary in 12 days and claims the title of America’s worst natural disaster..

The article claims Katrina as the worse disaster. Certainly, the loss of so many lives in the Galveston storm is a far greater tragedy. The only explanation I can offer is, perhaps the writer is referring to the dollar amount of loss. No comparison to lives though.

[wardaddy]

I was there at aged 11 like many on this thread I would reckon.

my dad picked me up from the camp I was at that nite near the coast and we went on Guard chopper from Wiggins to look at what he could move into area for clean up

he was a large GC in the Southeast at the time based in Jackson-Nashville

what a storm....horrible winds

but the surge from weaker Katrina was thrice as devastating

thank God the live oaks and Jeff’s house survived....not a whole lot else tween Waveland and Pascagoula did

[wardaddy]

Richelieu Hotel apartments

[wardaddy]

you’re right...Waveland and Pass Christian sure seem to get clobbered when they hit south Mississippi dead on

I was in Camille between Wiggins and the coast if that counts....winds were still in the 150s and twisters everywhere

We visited a doctor friend in Ocean Springs one week before Katrina on our way to Rosemary beach and then watched it unfold from home here in Nashville later.

we then drove through the coast last summer twice on old 90 and good lord....far worse than Camille...it’s 90% gone from Ocean Springs to Waveland and especially from Mississippi City to Waveland...do they still call it that?

we had some old family (Ladners) in Long Beach on Rich avenue...one block inland....all that is now gone....all of it

they survived Camille even though they floated off about 30 yards...the men rode it out...they prayed all nite

[wardaddy]

Galveston storm was weaker but hit more vulnerable area with little or no evac

and slow moving weaker storms are worse than compact stronger faster storms...sorta

having lived through Camille and seen Katrina aftermath...Katrina though weaker did more damage

what pisses me off is that Mississippi got hurt much worse dollar and area wise but the wrong color folks did the suffering

[wardaddy]

909 mb

estimated near 30 foot surge in places

had it been as slow moving as Katrina nothing with warm blood would have survived between Pass Road and the beach..no way

[Ditter]

Hurricane Katrina, the storm itself, didn't cause as much damage in LA as it did in Miss. The damage to NO came from the collapsed levee and that was because of human neglect. At least that is the way I see it. I have never seen the Galveston damage calculated in todays dollars so I don't know how it would really compare.

[SouthTexas]

Yeah I know, too many years have gone by.

[basalt]

Camille and Katrina both made landfall just to the right of N.O.....if they ever get a Camille type storm at just the right angle, up the mouth of the Mississippi River, that entire levee system will be destroyed, i dont care how they build it. City should have never been built there...

[Antoninus II]

I was at training at Keesler AFB in the mid 80’s

I was there in '87. Met my first wife there. She and her family lived on a street North of Race Track Road when Camille hit. The thing that was bad about Camille wasn't just the size and severity. It hit land, stalled for a while, moved back out into the gulf. Then it built up steam again before coming back. Ship Island is cut in 2 now. The channel is called Camille Cut.

The tracks you refer to are just outside the fenceline, running East to West, on the southern edge of the Student Triangle. What was your AFSC?

[Antoninus II]

we had some old family (Ladners) in Long Beach on Rich avenue

Lots of Necaises and Ladners in that part of the Gulf Coast. I lived in one of the "fish camps" up 603 from Waveland. I loved living there.

[Fledermaus]

Ah, Camille. I was almost 10 years old and living 30 miles east of the Ventura coastline in southern Calif before the left wingers really turned the place to crap.

I doubt I even saw anything about it on TV since I was always out playing! lol

But I do think some cute mexican girl in my math class was named Camille.

[eyedigress]

30352 AC&W, You?