Remembering Hurricane Camille

My six year old daughter Theresa was vacationing and camping with my sister and brother-in-law when they were told to evacuate the camp grounds because of Hurricane Camille coming inland into Mississippi. I was a total wreck until they were all safe and back home.

Here is the history of Camille - August 17, 1969

A tropical wave left the coast of Africa on August 5, becoming a tropical disturbance on August 9, 480 miles east of the Leeward Islands. Aircraft reconnaissance identified a closed circulation in the disturbance on the 14th near Grand Cayman and the system was designated Tropical Storm Camille with 60 mph (95 km/h) winds. The storm already had a well organized circulation and rapidly strengthened from August 14 to August 15 to a 115 mph (185 km/h) major hurricane before hitting the western tip of Cuba later that day. Land interaction weakened Camille to a 100 mph (160 km/h) hurricane, but it returned to perfect conditions as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico (possibly while passing over the Loop Current). On August 17, Camille reached an intense minimum central pressure of 905 mbar (hPa), and it continued to strengthen to a peak of over 190 mph (305 km/h) winds (possibly the strongest ever recorded in an Atlantic hurricane). In the hours before landfall, a reconnaissance aircraft was unable to obtain a surface wind report, but it estimated winds of up to 205 mph (335 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 901 mbar (hPa). Camille nearing its final landfall crossed the southeastern tip of Louisiana, and then hit near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, on the night of August 17. Its Category 5 strength winds are only estimated, due to the lack of wind reports near the center, though the NASA site at Stennis Space Center near Picayune, Mississippi, recorded an estimated gust of 160 mph with a pressure of 950 mbar. It maintained hurricane force winds for 10 hours as it moved 150 miles inland. As Camille turned east, it weakened to a tropical depression over northern Mississippi on the 19th. It picked up additional moisture from the Gulf Stream along the way and produced torrential rains in the remote mountains of Virginia. Camille turned eastward as it moved inland, and emerged into the Atlantic Ocean near Virginia Beach, Virginia, on the 20th. The depression restrengthened over the Gulf Stream, and briefly attained a peak of 70 mph (110 km/h) before becoming extratropical on the 22nd, east of Nova Scotia.