Has it only been 35 years?

[Ixolib]

August 17, 1969... Where were you 35 years ago? Seems like only yesterday to me. 12 years old and the most horrific weather event of my life was about to unfold. This link bears a look as it reminds us all of what can (and does) happen......... Of special note might be the Williams Family who lost 9 out of 10 members that night.

http://redeemer-biloxi.org/Pages/camille.html

[Mattie]

I was in Gulfport for Camille, 11 years old - and this is the first time I've seen the names. WOW! When you put names with casualties it does bring a little more reality to the hurricane danger that we often forget is there - and as Charley reminded us of just in the last three days.

And, it does seem like yesterday-the memories are very vivid and never to be forgotten.

The forecasting now is so much better than 1969 - when Camille was originally forecast to go up the mouth of the Mississippi and then surprisingly slammed in to Gulfport/Pass Christian, we packed up. We were from the Baton Rouge area and had made it through Betsy and my parents decided that another major hurricane was not going to be weathered. So, where did we go????? yep. Holiday Inn - Beachside, Gulfport, MS. We left as the feeder bands were coming on shore and made it to Vicksburg in the wee hours of the morning.

However, that didn't deter our "pack up and leave" attitude. Several times after Camille, we were packing and going. One summer we were vacationing at Gulf Shores - 1985-1986 maybe, one rolled in and we rolled north to Tennessee for a week.

Just good examples of being safe than sorry.

[GalvestonDuck]

17 months old -- still living in St. Louis. According the the Unisys tracking map archive, Camille brushed by MO as a TD.

Here are some scary images, including the famous Richelieu Apartments.

[Frank P]

I was on Point Cadet, the eastern tip of Biloxi... we had about 5 feet of the muddest, nastiest, cruddest storm surge in our house imaginable... I was 17 years old... our house was 16 feet above sea level...

the house I own now is on the front beach in Biloxi, near the Edgewater Mall, just east ...... it had 18 inches of water in it... I saw the old water line during remodeling... the house was surveyed at 20 feet above sea level... considering we were over 25 miles from the center, that's a tremendous tidal surge that far away... yeah it was BAD....

In my neighbor hood on the point, we were pulling bodies of old people from the Oak trees.... to get to the beach you had to climb a wall of debris at least 20 feet high that was pilled up blocking everything in its path... yeah, I got some pretty good Camille stories... one month without electricity or running water, two weeks without taking a bath...

A Cat 5 hits your city you can forget about your easy way of living for a LONG LONG time.... I really feel for the people of SW Florida, and I know what they are going through

[dhweather]

I was 15 months old, living in Jackson, and under a hurricane warning,
150 miles inland.

[HURAKAN]

I was not even planned to be born for the next 18 years. I'm only 17. But I can imagine what is going through such a devastating and powerfull hurricane.

[c5Camille]

i was 7... we evacuted... went to New York for 2 weeks...
grandparents. Still to this day when i hear a chainsaw...
my mind goes right back to Camille. We heard chainsaws
for months after that storm.

We adopted a boy after the storm. Jimmy... His dad, a drunk
nogood shrimper left him behind durring the storm in back bay
biloxi. the house he was in blow apart and into the bay. He swam
accross to DeIberville and rode it out in an oaktree. he was only 9....
true story. he saw people that night in the water... he was a very
very quite boy.

http://www.geocities.com/hurricanene/hu ... amille.htm

[Mattie]

OH MY GOSH CAMILLE!!!! No words come to mind for Jimmy, except WOW!!!! I can't EVEN imagine!!!!

[crazycajuncane]

I'm like one of the posters above...... my parents were kids then lol.

[vbhoutex]

I was not even planned to be born for the next 18 years. I'm only 17. But I can imagine what is going through such a devastating and powerfull hurricane.

This is not meant to be rude at all Hurakan, but you CAN NOT IMAGINE HOW HORRIBLE IT WAS.

I was 17 at the time and lived in Gulf Breeze, FL., 120 miles from landfall. We had 100 mph winds and an 8 foot storm surge!!! I saw waves over 30' high washing clear across Santa Rosa Island-Pensacola Beach at a point where the island was at least 1/2 mile wide and the dunes were 20'+ high!!! Frank P's description of the aftermath of Camille is vivid to say the least and it does not even touch on what I saw along that coast afterwards. I can not even imagine what he saw!!! and went through!!!! I saw washers, dryers, refrigerators, clothes, etc. 35' up in the trees. I clocked on my odometer as I rode through on my way home from Houston for 8.1 miles along that shoreline, there was not 1 single building left standing in any kind of habitable condition and most of them had been literally taken down to the slab if the slab was evern still there. Before Camille there were some of the most beautiful AnteBellum mansions you could imagine standing, now gone for eternity. I would not wish what I saw in MS after Camille on my worst enemy!!!

[Ixolib]

i was 7... we evacuted... went to New York for 2 weeks...
grandparents. Still to this day when i hear a chainsaw...
my mind goes right back to Camille. We heard chainsaws
for months after that storm.

We adopted a boy after the storm. Jimmy... His dad, a drunk
nogood shrimper left him behind durring the storm in back bay
biloxi. the house he was in blow apart and into the bay. He swam
accross to DeIberville and rode it out in an oaktree. he was only 9....
true story. he saw people that night in the water... he was a very
very quite boy.

http://www.geocities.com/hurricanene/hu ... amille.htm

Great post, Camille... Thanks for the link. When I hear a chainsaw, same reaction. Funny how that sound also brings back the smell of the area. That smell is something I'll never forget....

[sunny]

New Orleans, 9 years old, scared because I remembered what Betsy did.

[Brent]

My mom was 3 weeks from being born.

I cannot imagine how bad Camille was.

[Agua]

I was 5-6 at the time and living 90 miles north of the Coast up Highway 49. I've sat through Elena and Georges here on the coast, but they pale to the strength of Camille which had 120 mph sustained winds (recorded at a local airport) 90 miles inland. Trees in our yard were blown down and a portion of our roof was ripped off. I realze a large bit of this is due to my age at the time but it was the most terrifying night of my life. Even that far north. I truly can't even begin to imagine what it felt like to have been down here on the coast.

The economic loss was devastating to the area. It really NEVER recovered until the advent of dockside gaming back around '93.

[Lindaloo]

You are right about the economic recovery Agua. And I am afraid if we get another Camille the casinos will be swept away causing major economic damage again.

[opera ghost]

My mom was 12 years old- still another 5 years away from meeting my father and 11 years away from my birth.

The thought of another Camille terrifies me. I don't WANT to be able to imagine.

[SunnyThoughts]

I was 8 yrs old. I can remember my parents being frantic here in Pensacola. We packed up what we could and went north to Montgomery for a few days. Luckily we had a home to come back to, unlike many others to the west of us.

[Agua]

You are right about the economic recovery Agua. And I am afraid if we get another Camille the casinos will be swept away causing major economic damage again.

Thank God, I've got to believe that in our lifetime we've paid our dues and the likelihood of another Camille striking us has to be approaching zero.

[Lindaloo]

My thoughts exactly Agua. All we can do is pray that never happens.

[bfez1]

I remember Camille well even though I was a kid. Can't believe it was 35 yrs ago. Such devastation. Watched it carefully cause a few yrs before we had gone thru Betsy.