Remembering Hurricane Camille: 50 years ago today (Aug 17)

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In August of 1969 America was still celebrating the Apollo 11 moon landing, music lovers were flocking to New York for Woodstock and the Manson clan terrified California with the grisly murder of Sharon Tate and four others. But there was another monster lurking in the Gulf of Mexico. It was Hurricane Camille, which devastated parts of the northern Gulf Coast 50 years ago today. Camille is the second strongest hurricane to strike the U.S., according to a reanalysis by the National Hurricane Center in 2014.

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Camille brought a unbelievable storm surge of 24.6 feet to Pass Christian, Miss. Camille held the title for the highest storm surge ever recorded in the U.S. — coming a half-mile inland at one point — until 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. Camille remained powerful even as it moved inland: Columbia, Miss., 75 miles inland, reported 120 mph sustained winds, according to the weather service.

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Camille was blamed for 256 deaths in the U.S. According to the weather service 143 of those deaths were on the Gulf Coast. One of the most infamous stories from Camille was from the Richelieu Manor Apartments in Pass Christian, Miss. Twenty-three people were said to have died during a hurricane party when Camille ripped the complex apart. However, there was no party, according to reports years after the storm.



Camille killed more people -- 113 -- in Virginia. The storm dropped about 10 inches of rain at the coast, but those totals climbed to 20 inches over Virginia and West Virginia (with a local report of 35 inches).

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Camille formed just west of the Cayman Islands on Aug. 14. By the next day it was a Category 3 hurricane and reached western Cuba, where it killed three people.

Camille’s rapid strengthening continued as it tracked north-northwestward across the Gulf of Mexico, and it became a Category 5 hurricane on Aug. 16.

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