Was at Keesler 7 years earlier. Can’t imagine riding out Camille on the Base.
Was working on offshore production platforms in Main Pass Area south of NOLA when Camille came, K-M left us out until it was too late to get helos so our whole crew had to ride back on a tug only 2 hours ahead of Camille hitting.
Camille was the worst. Had she gone into NOLA, it would have wiped it out just like Buras, Pass Christian and Biloxi
We had to put all our bunks in the hall on the second floor - that got us away from the windows and any water. Very few windows broke and there was no storm surge where we were. We helped with clean-up - it was interesting to see debris 20 feet up in the trees and a sailboat sitting on top of a gas station.
I came pretty close to riding Camille out in the attic of a floating house, too. My family was at my grandparents' house shortly before it hit. For a while, my parents thought it was safer to sit tight, as all forecasts had it hitting New Orleans. Then, New Orleans weatherman Nash Roberts started disagreeing with the NOAA forecasts, saying it was going to turn a bit to the east. That was when Dad loaded the car.
The old house was badly damaged by Camille, but my dad and uncles fixed it by the following summer. I remember how all the pine scent was gone from the air for years after Camille. Most of the shade was gone, too. And as bad as Camille was, Katrina's storm surge was far worse. Old houses that had weathered many a bad storm fell to Katrina, as did my grandparents' small cottage.