Free Republic

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...

Let’s be honest. The down-to-earth, at times radical, and always controversial libertarian Camille Paglia — nicknamed “Hurricane Camille” because of the blasts she still aims at the liberal feminist establishment — favors Obama/Biden over McCain/Palin. However, despite her Democratic leanings, Paglia stands out as one of the nation’s most important voices in exposing the perversity, danger, and superficiality of liberalism, a fact powerfully exemplified by what she has to say about Sarah Palin in a recent “Salon” piece. We wouldn’t expect Camille Paglia to regurgitate the liberal reaction to Palin — from the arrogance, hypocrisy, and superciliousness spewed by the...

A tropical wave left Africa on August 5, 1969 and moved across the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean. On August 14th, it was identified as a tropical storm off the coast of the Cayman Island. It deepened into a Category 3 hurricane with 115 mph winds and hit western Cuba. Once it was over the Gulf of Mexico, it was weakened to a Category 2 hurricane with 100 mph winds. The conditions was perfect for rapid strengthening due to the warm water and the Loop Current. On August 17th, Hurricane Camille explodes into a full blown Category 5 hurricane...

In 1969, when Hurricane Camille left much of the Coast a mangled, unrecognizable pile of debris, thousands of Daily Herald readers found inspiration in a single photograph of an American flag, proudly flying atop a bent flag pole amid the ruins. We reprint an excerpt from an editorial a few days after the storm. It was written by the late Bob McHugh, the Herald's new associate editor, who had barely unpacked his family and their moving boxes when Camille left them with nothing. "When the U.S. Marines captured Iwo Jima in 1945 and hoisted the American flag on volcanic Mt....

Click here here for a link to a Camille History Website. Hurricane Camille is a bench mark in the American hurricane experience. Although Camille hit an area that had a relatively small population by today's standards, the region was sufficiently built-up enough to provide a first hand lesson of what a hurricane of maximum intensity is capable of. One thing remains as true today, as it was 34 years ago after the storm hit: Hurricane Camille is the most intense storm of any kind to ever strike mainland America in modern history. To put Hurricane Camille in scientific perspective, the...