INTENSIFICATION

Once into the Gulf of Mexico, the small, powerful hurricane intensified rapidly; by the early afternoon of the 16th, central pressure had dropped to 908 millibars. The severe storm plodded north-northwestward at 14 miles per hour. A hurricane watch had been put in effect from Biloxi, Mississippi, to St. Marks, Florida. By late afternoon, an Air Force reconnaissance team measured a 905 millibar pressure and recorded flight level (700 millibar) winds of 160 miles per hour.

Early on the 17th, with Camille 250 miles south of Mobile, and hurricane warnings extending westward to New Orleans, Mississippi coastal residents were boarding up homes and businesses and heading inland. As the day wore on, inland moving traffic increased as did the hurricane threat to low-lying areas. Radio and television stations carried ESSA warnings every few minutes, while Police and Civil Defense officials went into isolated areas to urge people to evacuate.

One last reconnaissance flight was made early Sunday afternoon (17th), and Air Force pilot Marvin A. Little and his crew found a central pressure of 901 millibars (26.91 inches) and maximum surface winds at more that 200 miles per hour (175 knots) near the center. Due to engine trouble, this was the last penetration made. Hurricane force winds extended out to 60 miles; Camille was a small, but extremely intense hurricane located less than 100 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River. The storm was at its peak and was under surveillance of the New Orleans radar.

As Camille brushed southeastern Louisiana easterly winds ahead of the center and northerly winds to its west pushed a massive storm surge through the marshes of this area. Because of the shape of the bays and inlets, surge heights varied at different locations; water levels reached 9 feet above m.s.l. near the mouth of the Mississippi, at Garden Island. In several places, from the Empire Canal southward to Buras, Boothville, and Venice the surge poured over both the east and west bank Mississippi River levees and was trapped by the back levees, leaving the built-up areas between the levees severely flooded. The barometer in Port Sulpher, La. was blown out at over 200 miles per hour, which was the highest reading at the time. No one really knows what the maximum winds were in our area.

LANDFALL

Camille weakened as she moved northward through Mississippi, passing close to Columbia, Prentis, Jackson, Canton, and Greenwood. Jackson's winds gusted to 67 miles per hour as the storm center passed 10 miles to the east. The radar at Jackson, which had picked up Camille's eye in the Gulf, followed the indentifiable circulation to southern Quitman County. The storm was only identifiable as a depression when it reached the northern Mississippi border.

OVERLAND

The remnants of Camille's dying circulation moved into an area already occupied by a large, moist maritime-tropical air mass, with some existing rain areas. To the northwest of the area of maximum rainfall a narrow valley surrounded by steep ridges suggested that orographic effects on the cyclonic flow aided in producing the heavy precipitation. Thunderstorm activity ahead of a slowly approaching cold front may also have accentuated the heavy rain. In combination these meteorological factors( and perhaps others not yet ascertained) produced torrential rains which rank with other record rainfalls throughout the world. Several amounts of more than 25 inches were found on post examination, and amounts in excess of 4 inches fell over an area 20-40 miles wide and 120 miles long -- most of it occurring in a period of 8 hours.

Camille regained tropical storm intensity when she moved into the North Atlantic. However, on the 22nd, she was absorbed by a cold front about 175 miles southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland.

WINDS

The highest actual measurement on a wind instrument was found on an Easterline Angus wind speed recorder which had been left running on a Tranworld Drilling Company rig located east of Boothville (Maine Pass Block 29). The recorder had been switched to double scale before evacuation and recorded an extreme gust of 172 miles per hour before the paper jammed and the trace was lost. An Air National Guard Weather Flight stationed at Gulfport Municipal Airport, estimated sustained winds in excess of 100 miles per hour and gust of 150-175 miles per hour. Other less reliable reports from the Gulfport-Bay St. Louis area indicated winds of 150-200 miles per hour. At Boothville, Louisiana, 107 mile per hour gusts were recorded before a power failure; at Pillot town, Louisiana, the SS CRISTOBAL estimated winds at 160 miles per hour.

Winds at Biloxi (Keesler Air Force Base) were measured at 81 miles per hour with gusts to 129 miles her hour late on the 17th. At Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula the highest sustained wind reached 81 miles per hour while a local radio station reported 104 mile per hour winds before a power failure.

West of the storm center hurricane force winds reached only the eastern edge of New Orleans; brief gusts of 60-85 miles per hour extended over most of the city. Eastern sections of St. Tammany and Washington Parishes were swept by intense winds estimated up to 160 miles per hour in gusts at Slidell and up to 130 miles per hour in gusts at Bogalusa and Angie.

Hurricane force winds were confined close to the storm's center as it move inland. These winds extended from east of New Orleans to Pascagoula, while gusts of hurricane force winds extended along the coast from New Orleans to just west of Mobile Bay and inland to just south of Jackson.

PRESSURE

The 908 millibar pressure recorded on the afternoon of August 16th marked the lowest ever recorded by reconnaissance aircraft in the North Atlantic; however, this was soon broken by the 905 millibar reading later in the day and the historic 901 millibar pressure the following day.

The lowest land pressure was observed by Mr. Charles A. Breath, Jr. of Bay St. Louis, in his home a few blocks from the west end of Bay St. Louis Bridge. He made the reading of 26.85 inches on his aneroid barometer as the eastern edge of Camille's eye passed overhead. His barometer was later checked and found to be accurate by the New Orleans Weather Bureau Office. Other low pressures included a 27.80 inch reading at Garden Island, Louisiana, and 27.90 inch at St. Stanislaus School in Bay St. Louis.

STORM SURGE

Maximum tides of 10 feet or more above m.s.l. extended from the Pearlington area to near the Mississippi - Alabama line. Maximum tides 15 feet or more above m.s.l. extended from Clermont Harbor to Ocean Springs.Maximum tides of 20 feet or more above m.s.l. were concentrated in an area from Bay St. Louis eastward to Edgewater Park. The highest measured surge of 24.2 feet above m.s.l. was measured within the city limits of Pass Christian; other measurements of 22.6 feet and 22.5 feet were also found at Pass Christian. Tides within the preceding ranges were lower in some areas. Flooding was also prevalent along rivers and bayous in Mississippi. Tides ran 13-17 feet above m.s.l. from the Jordan River (Waveland) to Old Fort Bayou (Ocean Springs).

Offshore surges were put at 15-16 feet above m.s.l. based on the flood marks measured at Ship and Cat Islands. The Coast Guard reported every buoy between New Orleans and Mobile was off station and that almost all of the navigational aids had been lost. In the Mobile Bay area tides ran about 7 feet above m.s.l.

The Louisiana storm surge that swept from Empire southward, flooded Boothville with 15 feet (above m.s.l.) of water. Water levels reached 9 feet near the mouth of the Mississippi, at Garden Island. The tidal Surge also flooded some parts of lower St. Bernard Parish and eastern sections of Orleans Parish. Tide heights reached 7.97 feet above m.s.l. at Alluvial City, 8.73 feet at Chef Menteur Pass, 11.06 feet at Shell Beach, and 9.00 feet at the Rigolets. Tides on Lake Ponchatrain reached 4.0 feet above m.s.l. at Manderville, 4.6 feet at Freneir, 5.2 feet at Slidell, and 5.5 feet at Slidell, and 5.5
feet at Madisonville.

DEATHS AND DAMAGES

While most of Betsy's damage was incurred by Louisiana, Camille spent most of her wrath in Mississippi; the total figure there is estimated at $950 million; Louisiana suffered $350 million mostly in lower Plaquemines Parish.

The total U.S. deaths figure was 258 with three persons reported dead in Cuba. The U.S. figure is the highest in a hurricane since 390 persons died during Hurricane

Audrey, which moved over western Louisiana in June 1957; most of these deaths, like those in Camille, were drownings.

Camille ripped a swath of destruction along the entire length of the Mississippi coast up to three or four blocks inland. She also destroyed some inland areas such as residential sections of West Gulfport and the Biloxi suburb of D'Iberville. In low areas the rows of houses stopped a block or two from the beach and beyond a row of debris were bare foundations along the beach front. From Pascagoula to Pass Christian, and to a lesser degree farther east and west, piles of lumber, building materials and trees were thrown together by the surge. In some cases, piles of debris extended for more than a block square. Highway 90, the main coastal thoroughfare, was covered with sand in many sections and completely washed away in other sections. About one-third of the Bay St. Louis Bridge and one-half of the Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge were damaged when tides lifted the spans off their supports. The Army Corps of Engineers indicated that to make some 530 miles of roads passable, about 100,000 tons of debris had to be cleared away. Mr. M. James Stevens, Vice-President of the Mississippi Restaurant Association, reported that the Coast's resort industry suffered the worst disaster of any similar recreation area in the world. Along U.S. 90, in the Biloxi area, some 60 resort properties suffered damage with about one-half of them destroyed. Buildings on high knolls of about 20 feet or more were able to weather the high winds and survive the storm surge. Many buildings at the 10 feet level were crushed.

At Clermont Harbor, the destruction was total, and eastward to Bay St. Louis many hundreds of beach homes were destroyed. Henderson Point in the Pass Christian area was completely destroyed except for an old building that was formerly a maritime academy. In the Gulfport harbor, damage was severe. Three large cargo ships, the ALAMO VICTORY, the HULDA, and the SILVER HAWK were badly damaged and washed high aground at the north end of the harbor. At the banana wharf, all the sheet metal was stripped from the structures, but most of the framework was intact. On the west side of the harbor, most of the damage was to the lower walls of the buildings where the battering-ram effect of floating cargo carried the sides away. A large diesel fuel barge lifted out of the harbor, carried ashore, and deposited on the medial strip of U.S. 90. Farther up the beach was a large oil storage tank that had floated several miles from its original position.

The beautiful, modern marina fronting the Broadwater Beach Hotel at Biloxi appeared to be intact, but at close inspection the molded concrete covers over the boat slips had corners and pieces broken off by floating debris in the high water. Buildings along the waterfront were demolished and most of the boats were either sunk or had been washed away.

At Pascagoula's Ingalls Shipyard the large cargo ship, MORMACSUN, under construction, broke its moorings and was carried by a 12 foot rise of water onto high ground.

In Hancock County most residents live in low-lying areas. In the hamlets of Lake shore, Clermont Park, Pearlington, Ansley and the Cedar Point section of Bay St. Louis, destruction was almost complete. Storm surges of 15 feet and higher and devastating winds turned beach houses into stacks of driftwood. At the Mississippi Test Facility, southeast of Picayune, some 1600 refugees took shelter Sunday night (17th). The high winds and water knocked down some overhead powerl ines and flooded the underground lines. Emergency generators were put into use but operations at the facility were suspended until Tuesday.

In Pearl River County there was an estimated $35-40 million loss from damage. The county agent said that about 85 percent of the dairy barns in the county were either severely damaged or were a complete loss. About 35,000-40,000 acres or bearing tug trees were destroyed. There was an additional loss in timber and heavy damage was inflicted on the pecan crop. In Poplarville, the county seat, the mayor estimated that about 90 percent of the homes sustained damage in varying degrees.

There was electric power failure throughout 14 counties, from the coast to as far north as Simpson County. In some sections this loss lasted for several days. The South Mississippi Power Company had to almost completely rebuild their distribution system, and their transmission network was badly damaged. Camille's effects were also devastating on telephone service. Of Mississippi's 765,000 telephones, approximately 15 percent were out of service. In the Gulf Coast area this figure jumped to 67 percent.
The U.S. Forest Service made an aerial survey over a 14 county area of southern Mississippi, an area of 3.8 million acres, which revealed that about 1.9 million acres of commercial forest land in 12 counties received varying degrees of damage. Observations from the air indicated that hardwood forests suffered somewhat heavier damage than pine forests. Some of the hardwood forests were completely defoliated by severe winds. The Forest Service estimates damage to Mississippi saw timber at 1.8 billion board feet and to pulpwood at 1.4 million cords.

Damage in Louisiana was confined mainly to southeastern sections with some damage in the eastern part of the state. The storm surge generated by Camille swept the area from Empire southward clean. Most structures in this area, including some that had survived hurricane Betsy, were completely demolished by the combination of wind and water. The tidal surge also flooded some parts of lower St. Bernard Parish and eastern sections of Orleans Parish. Camille's intense winds were unusually small in a real extent, particularly to the west of the center. Damage in these areas was generally minor. However, eastern sections of St. Tammany and Washington Parishes were swept by intense winds and heavy rainfall (4-6 inches), and the heavily forested area received considerable damage. Lower Plaquemines parish was wiped out. Virtually nothing was left standing. By most accounts, buildings were leveled, homes destroyed, crops gone, and a horrible aftermath of destruction was all that remained. For us, life would never be the same. Friends moved away, vowing never to return to the parish they once called home. Insurance rates sky- rocketed, making rebuilding all most impossible for fear of having no insurance coverage. Lives shattered, dreams crushed, death, destruction, and heartache remained. For many native residents Camille was a painful reminder that life can change in the blink of an eye. That eye, the fateful eye of the storm. Although Camille isn't recorded as the most costly of hurricanes, at the time the damage was estimated at 1.4 billion, in 1998, that would be more than double(considering inflation). But the damage to our hearts is priceless, it cannot be measure by a dollar amount. It can never be expressed, the look of desperation that remained, told a story of it's own. My father returned after having surveyed the damage, and brought back some rusty drape hooks, which was all he could find. It was a time of great despair, and many were not even fortunate enough to find such a thing as this. As the weeks turned into months, we were allowed to go back to our parish to begin the rebuilding. But it was never the same. Some buildings were not rebuilt, taking many memories with them. They were gone forever. As were so many people that we used to call "neighbor". What Camille did on August 17th, 1969, was an ugly, horrible fact of life, that scarred many people and hurt many lives. It is written that Camille was the most destructive of hurricanes. In this I agree. She made her mark upon our parish, and permanently scarred our hearts.

Hurricane Links

The Life of Hurricane Camille
The Life of Hurricane Betsy
Hurricane Info for Intermediates
Hurricane Camille Photograph Collection
NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER
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