Hurricane Katrina Storm Surge In Mississippi Video

[Ptarmigan]

Never underestimate the power of nature. Here are some videos of Hurricane Katrina storm surge in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Beau Rivage Hotel
Storm surge goes high as 35 feet in Mississippi and possibly as high as 40 feet!

[f5]

if Katrina did have surge as high as 40 ft then she was a very rare type of storm

[Ptarmigan]

if Katrina did have surge as high as 40 ft then she was a very rare type of storm

The highest I actually heard was 37 feet. However, 40 feet is not out of question.

[MGC]

The highest offical surge on the NHC report is 28 feet. FEMA reported a 35 foot surge in Pass Christian. My house in the Pass didn't flood, I'm south of the tracks on a narrow strip of land above 28 feet. I therefor doubt the FEMA report because my house is only a mile or so away from the 28 feet surge.....MGC

[timNms]

I have no idea how high the surge was, but a retired NWS met that I know who lived in Waveland and was there during the storm said he would not be surprised if the surge was 40 feet in some places. He said people rescued them in boats and they were pulling people out of the tops of trees during the height of the surge.

I do know that it had to be quite high in order for it to cross the tracks in Waveland and go almost all the way to the interstate in some places. I would venture to guess that the motel they were staying in was about a mile north of the beach. The depth of the water there was up to the ceiling in their motel room. I have some pictures of the water marks in their 1st floor motel room.

[f5]

The highest offical surge on the NHC report is 28 feet. FEMA reported a 35 foot surge in Pass Christian. My house in the Pass didn't flood, I'm south of the tracks on a narrow strip of land above 28 feet. I therefor doubt the FEMA report because my house is only a mile or so away from the 28 feet surge.....MGC

i figure NHC is being conservative on the total

[MSRobi911]

I know it was high enough to come in 3 miles from the beach in Pascagoula and still be five feet inside the Jackson County Courthouse!

I have a couple of picks but they are not very good quality, it was really dark in the court house and they look blurry. One of the deputies was trying to save pictures and placks that were on the wall of deputies that had fallen in the line of duty and he is 6' 3" and it was up to his arm pits and he had on shoes. I will also say that when looking out the double glass doors you could see another foot of water on the outside that hadn't come inside yet.

The official report in Pascagoula was 16 feet, I don't know where they came up with that number but my neighbors house was on stilts 10 feet up and the trash line on what was left of his house was over the top of the front door and he is at 12' above sea level. Oh well, the structural engineer also said if my house had any wind damage it would have only been a few shingles (I only had a slab left). Please, please tell me another one and if anyone believes that I have a bridge to sell them!

Mary

[Ptarmigan]

I know it was high enough to come in 3 miles from the beach in Pascagoula and still be five feet inside the Jackson County Courthouse!

I have a couple of picks but they are not very good quality, it was really dark in the court house and they look blurry. One of the deputies was trying to save pictures and placks that were on the wall of deputies that had fallen in the line of duty and he is 6' 3" and it was up to his arm pits and he had on shoes. I will also say that when looking out the double glass doors you could see another foot of water on the outside that hadn't come inside yet.

The official report in Pascagoula was 16 feet, I don't know where they came up with that number but my neighbors house was on stilts 10 feet up and the trash line on what was left of his house was over the top of the front door and he is at 12' above sea level. Oh well, the structural engineer also said if my house had any wind damage it would have only been a few shingles (I only had a slab left). Please, please tell me another one and if anyone believes that I have a bridge to sell them!

Mary

16 feet is a bit low based on what you said about your neighbor's house. I think more like 28 to 35 feet.

[MSRobi911]

We figured around 27 to 30 from what we could add up. As I said I don't know where they got that figure. Highway 90 is about 4 1/2 to 5 miles from the Gulf and they hard water in some places over the Highway!

Mary

Duh, it was miles not feet from the gulf

[timNms]

MSRobi911, I think someone is lying to you guys about the surge. My wife's aunt lives 14 blocks north of the beach and she had over 2 ft of water in her house. It had NEVER flooded before.

[Ptarmigan]

MSRobi911, I think someone is lying to you guys about the surge. My wife's aunt lives 14 blocks north of the beach and she had over 2 ft of water in her house. It had NEVER flooded before.

It never flooded during Camille? If so, all I can say is Good Lord!

[Lindaloo]

I know it was high enough to come in 3 miles from the beach in Pascagoula and still be five feet inside the Jackson County Courthouse!

I have a couple of picks but they are not very good quality, it was really dark in the court house and they look blurry. One of the deputies was trying to save pictures and placks that were on the wall of deputies that had fallen in the line of duty and he is 6' 3" and it was up to his arm pits and he had on shoes. I will also say that when looking out the double glass doors you could see another foot of water on the outside that hadn't come inside yet.

The official report in Pascagoula was 16 feet, I don't know where they came up with that number but my neighbors house was on stilts 10 feet up and the trash line on what was left of his house was over the top of the front door and he is at 12' above sea level. Oh well, the structural engineer also said if my house had any wind damage it would have only been a few shingles (I only had a slab left). Please, please tell me another one and if anyone believes that I have a bridge to sell them!

Mary

Post the one of the Church. That will give them an idea how high the water was.

[timNms]

MSRobi911, I think someone is lying to you guys about the surge. My wife's aunt lives 14 blocks north of the beach and she had over 2 ft of water in her house. It had NEVER flooded before.

It never flooded during Camille? If so, all I can say is Good Lord!

No water from Camille. The only damage they had from Camille was their garage door was blown in some.

[Ptarmigan]

No water from Camille. The only damage they had from Camille was their garage door was blown in some.

That's really weird. Camille had strong winds and high storm surges, yet it survived. Then Katrina comes and damages the house.

[timNms]

No water from Camille. The only damage they had from Camille was their garage door was blown in some.

That's really weird. Camille had strong winds and high storm surges, yet it survived. Then Katrina comes and damages the house.

It's like someone said. "Camille killed more people in 05 than she did in '69"...or something to that effect. Many people used Camille as the benchmark for storms, thinking that if they survived Camille, they could survive anything. Unfortunately, Katrina proved that assumption to be wrong.

Our friends, who lived in Waveland and lost everything except the clothes they had on their backs, almost fell victim to the Camille way of thinking. Their mom's house was a couple of blocks off of the beach and made it thru Camille unscathed. It was 22 feet above sea level. They had about decided to ride out Katrina in her house. Thank God they didn't! The only thing left of her house was the concrete slab and one toilet.

[Ptarmigan]

It's like someone said. "Camille killed more people in 05 than she did in '69"...or something to that effect. Many people used Camille as the benchmark for storms, thinking that if they survived Camille, they could survive anything. Unfortunately, Katrina proved that assumption to be wrong.

Our friends, who lived in Waveland and lost everything except the clothes they had on their backs, almost fell victim to the Camille way of thinking. Their mom's house was a couple of blocks off of the beach and made it thru Camille unscathed. It was 22 feet above sea level. They had about decided to ride out Katrina in her house. Thank God they didn't! The only thing left of her house was the concrete slab and one toilet.

Hurricane Katrina was much worse than Camille for sure. Many more lives were lost in Katrina and also it was much larger. If it wasn't for that Camille complacency, than less people would of died.

[timNms]

It's like someone said. "Camille killed more people in 05 than she did in '69"...or something to that effect. Many people used Camille as the benchmark for storms, thinking that if they survived Camille, they could survive anything. Unfortunately, Katrina proved that assumption to be wrong.

Our friends, who lived in Waveland and lost everything except the clothes they had on their backs, almost fell victim to the Camille way of thinking. Their mom's house was a couple of blocks off of the beach and made it thru Camille unscathed. It was 22 feet above sea level. They had about decided to ride out Katrina in her house. Thank God they didn't! The only thing left of her house was the concrete slab and one toilet.

Hurricane Katrina was much worse than Camille for sure. Many more lives were lost in Katrina and also it was much larger. If it wasn't for that Camille complacency, than less people would of died.

I agree with you that Katrina was worse than Camille in size, surge, and death toll. I think the winds were stronger in Camille at landfall than with Katrina. I don't remember a lot about Camille (was 7) but my brother who is 6 yrs older than I am said there was more tree damage from Camille. (Not that there wasn't plenty from Katrina). Our area was without power for 2 weeks after Katrina. Some places nearby were without power for a month. I don't remember how long it was after Camille that our power was out. It's weird that so much damage was done in our area with Katrina and we're about 100 miles inland.

[f5]

was there surge near 40 ft NHC says otherwise

[wxman57]

I know it was high enough to come in 3 miles from the beach in Pascagoula and still be five feet inside the Jackson County Courthouse!

I have a couple of picks but they are not very good quality, it was really dark in the court house and they look blurry. One of the deputies was trying to save pictures and placks that were on the wall of deputies that had fallen in the line of duty and he is 6' 3" and it was up to his arm pits and he had on shoes. I will also say that when looking out the double glass doors you could see another foot of water on the outside that hadn't come inside yet.

The official report in Pascagoula was 16 feet, I don't know where they came up with that number but my neighbors house was on stilts 10 feet up and the trash line on what was left of his house was over the top of the front door and he is at 12' above sea level. Oh well, the structural engineer also said if my house had any wind damage it would have only been a few shingles (I only had a slab left). Please, please tell me another one and if anyone believes that I have a bridge to sell them!

Mary

I don't believe that any parts of Pascagoula are 3 miles from water. My mother lives there (Gautier) and I did some extensive surveys there. Was there most of the last month, too, taking more pictures. My mother's home in Gautier rests 15 feet above MSL. She got 2 feet of water at 1.25 miles from the beach. But you have to remember that water doesn't just come up from the beach. Her water came from a tiny inlet at the end of her street which rose that same 17 feet above MSL. Most parts of Gautier/Pascagoula are well within a mile of such inlets/bayous/ditches. When the 16-17 ft surge hit the coast, it traveled north right up these small bayous for many miles inland.

I visited a friends new home in Pascagoula next to Beach Street on St. Mary St. There was a high-water mark on the house that survived just to their north. Engineers used that mark to verify the 16ft surge height at the beach. By the way, our friends' new home's foundation is now 17 feet above their old foundation and 23 feet above MSL. Had to install an elevator to make carrying groceries up easier.

The official surge height in Katrina's east eyewall was measured at 28 feet at the beach. A good bit of evidence supports that value, and I'm not aware of any high water mark that suggests a surge of 40 ft. It's possible that some bayous/rivers could have seen water higher than 28 feet above MSL, though, as the surge tends to amplify in such locations. But if any strong evidence of a higher surge had been found, then the 28 ft value would have been raised. The reports of a 37 or 40 ft surge are just rumors not supported by evidence.

[Lindaloo]

I saw the surge come in. It came down one of the main streets here in Goula then spread out on the side streets. Then the water started rising. It went back out like a raging river and quick. On my street it carried cars, privacy fences (mine included), trees, gates, tires and even a boat. I watched all this go by in the street. We went 4 blocks over to retrieve some of our privacy fence and the neighbors car was lodged against the back of a beauty salon at the end of my street. I remember holding my breath and praying that my house would not be lifted off it's foundation and carried down the street or come off the foundation. I do not know what kept my house from falling because it washed a swath under it and washed all the center structure blocks into my neighbors yard. Oh and I am 2 miles from the beachfront.

I saw a wave crash into the same beauty salon before the water came in. There ere white caps on top of the actual surge.