Hurricane Camille's Impact On The Mississippi Gulf Coast
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Hurricane Camille made a major impact not only on the gulf coast area, but the entire nation as well. Hurricane Camille struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast on August 17, 1969, and that is a day that many people will never forget. For some, it was the worst day of their lives. Hurricane Camille had an extremely high wind speed, tidal surge, and lasting economic and community devastation. Camille was the strongest and most intense storm to hit the United States; however some researchers suggest that Hurricane Katrina surpassed Hurricane Camille as the strongest storm. The intent of this paper is to discuss the major impact that Hurricane Camille had on the Gulf Coast with an emphasis on the devastation that Hurricane Camille caused. On August…show more content… Researchers believed that the storms next victim would be Florida’s panhandle, but instead the storm continued to move in a northwesterly path, headed straight for the Mississippi Gulf Coast. As time went on, the storm intensified dramatically, showing winds of 241 miles per hour (1969-Hurricane Camille). On the 17th of August, the day before the storm hit the Gulf Coast, the storm had a low pressure of 905 mb, and winds were up to 257 miles per hour (1969-Hurricane Camille). At this time, Hurricane Camille was the second most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin. One hundred miles away from the Mississippi Basin, winds were recorded at 190 miles per hour. Some of Mississippi’s coastal residents were making their way inland, and some residents decided to ride the storm out and look after their belongings. Some residents were boarding up their homes and businesses. As the hurricane threat grew on low-lying areas, the inland traffic got heavier and heavier. On August 18th, 1969 Hurricane Camille changed the Mississippi Gulf Coast…show more content… From Bay St. Louis to Ocean Springs, everything was gone. From houses to businesses, everyone lost something important to them. The world will never know the true wind speed because all of the devices to measure the wind were destroyed by Camille; however researchers have estimated that the wind speed was up to 200 miles per hour. Camille caused a 24.6 foot storm surge, which caused several people to lose their lives, and water was pushed up to four blocks away from the beach. Camille generated waves in the Gulf of Mexico that were up to 70 feet high (1969-Hurricane Camille). Highway 90 runs parallel to the beach along the entire Gulf of Mexico, and it was flooded for several days. The police even issued martial law on the coast. They blocked off all highways that lead to any area that was severely damaged, and there was a curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. to cut down on the stealing. Camille even forced the Mississippi river to flow backwards. One of our barrier islands in the Gulf of Mexico, Dauphin Island, was badly damaged and was inundated 70 percent (1969-Hurricane