Storm Stories: Hurricane Camille Part II

[@73lyfe96]

I remember my 7th Grade science teacher showing us a documentary about Camille, and ill never forget about the apartment complex being swept away

[@togatx]

We had just moved from Massachusetts to Biloxi two or three weeks before Camille and lived on base housing at Keesler. I was 14. They moved us to Bryan Hall a concrete structure . I can remember what seemed like hours and hours of terrifying howling winds that sounded like a locomotive. When we returned every single house in our neighborhood on base has trees through the roof except for ours. We were so lucky. I do remember thousands of pine needles driven into what trees remained like nails. In a side yard there was a triangular shaped pile of pine cones six to eight inches high like a spaceship had landed. August 17, 1969 Hurricane Camille will never be forgotten

[@togatx]

I knew it was bad but this video really depicts the catastrophic damage done along the beach area

[@vivians9392]

I was in Houston and because the storm had been so irratic, I worried it was going to travel west once it hit the coast and hit all of Louisiana coast and come into Houston/Galveston, too. It was more powerful than Carla that hit Houston in 1961.

[@jeanvignes]

I'm 63 and I will never forget the first time I saw pine needles hammered into creosote telephone poles like nails. The power of that wind is terrifying.

[@markstipulkoski1389]

@@jeanvignes I grew up in Pass Christian and went through Camille at the age of ten. There was a story going around that a person had died in th Pass from a pine needle that went through his eye into his brain. That is just what I heard as a kid and I'm not saying it is true. The morning after the storm, I did witness people who were stuck in trees after the water had receded, and bodies in the steet, which had already been covered with sheets.

[@Smartphone775]

I looked up the Williams Family online. In a cruel irony, the home the family lived in did survive Camille's wrath.

[@jeffbryan4019]

Yes their brick home had only minor damage . It was not located at the coast . I talked with Paul Williams on the phone on two occasions . He died with cancer in 1998 .

[@tangelineforever]

Thank you for bringing back Storm Stories, Weather Channel.

[@celiagorleski2716]

I remember the newspaper headline said " Camille Was No Lady"

[@raydwyer4820]

I was in the US Army stationed at Kesler Air Base and I spent this night in a reinforced plane hanger. The days-after, being in the Army, I walked armed guard duty in some neighborhood that had been flushed to the ground. There was nothing left to mark where the houses were except the concrete steps and a few brick fire-places.

[@jeanvignes]

Thank you for your service! My grandmothers, great-grandmother, sister, step-grandfather, and other relatives & friends weathered Camille. People found mail and legal papers with one of my grandmothers' name on it FIVE MILES from her utterly destroyed home. Thank goodness they were in shelters or evacuated, because otherwise they would have surely died.

[@Birdbike719]

This month is the 50th anniversary of Camille. I have a good friend from Mississippi who still speaks of Camille like people from NOLA speak of Katrina. A storm like no one had ever seen.

[@noybnoygdb1022]

The brunt of Katrina was borne by Mississippi, not Louisiana. New Orleans' disaster was a result of inadequate levee maintenance.

[@fabfab5450]

Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I know firsthand because I rode it out on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Our homes were pretty much blown away along with storm surge. The homes in New Orleans were left standing, but were flooded out. New Orleans was devastated by broken levees of a failed levee system that wasn't kept up and cost the lives of so many people.

[@boogitybear2283]

Mississippi was Katrina’s Storm not New Orleans!

[@boogitybear2283]

Linda, you’re a Moron. Nobody cares about your comment.

[@Birdbike719]

@@boogitybear2283 grow up.

[@hebneh]

I was glad to hear a firsthand account from someone who'd been in the Richelieu Apartments. The "hurricane party" story was published in newspapers right after the disaster and I well remember reading this claim in 1969. Even without it, though, the total destruction of this complex is still hard to believe. Looking at the buildings beforehand, you'd assume they were made of concrete. Obviously they were not.

[@crunchycookie06]

R.I.P. to all the victims of Hurricane Camille.

[@mikeprima588]

Hurricane Audrey is the storm that sticks out to me if heard many stories down in Cameron , Louisiana she pushed the gulf 25 miles inland that's scary

[@vivians9392]

I was young in Houston, and remember the winds and heavy rains here from Audrey.

[@jeanvignes]

Folks finding shrimp boats miles inland in a farmer's field will always stick with me.

[@gordoncosta]

There were stories about Audrey where people were washed away by the surge and clinging to floating trees and while on these trees and debris, snakes were crawling all over them seeking safety from the surge. Thats crazy.

[@mikeprima7555]

I think audrey is the worst storm iv ever heard of my neighbor was a audrey survivor he lost his 4 year old daughter everyone that lived on his street drowned

[@gordoncosta]

This story failed to mention that the wind speedometer at Keesler AFB maxed out at 190 MPH. Camille blew it out. If the Camille would have hit the Mississippi Gulf coast in 2005, when it was more densely populated, It might still be uninhabitable. Survivors to this day swear up and down that it was a tidal wave that flooded the coastline.

[@RobertDecker417]

That is actually being disputed, and the NOAA has made 190 an unofficial number.

[@lanewitt1379]

I was on Keebler Air Force base. We were in one of the class rooms. We were not allow to go out in the hallways because they were afraid the doors would give and you would never be found. Sitting against the cinder block walls you could feel the building shifting. I thought I was gonna die

[@leahhh7719]

When he says” it’s the new normal” I started crying

[@rebeccaswilling1771]

Mother Nature is fierce!

[@vivians9392]

So is God...

[@brianmears3388]

Watching on August 17, 2023. 54 years ago today. I read about the Richelieu Apartment complex, and the police chief was trying to get people to leave and they told him "This is a 3 story building, so we can go up to the 3rd floor if a wave comes", and he responds "Not if the first two floors cave in". 20 people who didn't pay attention to the warnings he gave died. So stupid of them no to get out of there. So the "Hurricane Party" didn't even happen?

[@LokiOdinson-fz8ps]

Speaking of stupid. Here's your sign.

[@markstipulkoski1389]

I grew up in Pass Christian and went through Camille when I was 10 years old. My best friends older sister had just moved to the Richleau Apartments and wanted her family to come to her neighbors hurricane party. Her parents refused and convinced her to stay home with them. As it turns out, their home was flooded to the ceiling and they were forced to the attic and had to cut through the roof with an axe. Luckily, the water stopped rising at the ceiling and the house did not collapse. I was present when my friends sister tried to convince her family to go to the party. Part of her reasoning was it was a new three story concrete structure and would be safe. So, despite what the man in this video says, there was a hurricane party at the Richleau that he may not been aware of. Months after the storm, as a kid I was exploring the rubble of the Richleau one day. On the news that night, it was reported that another body was discovered under slabs of concrete by a man capping off broken gas lines. I had had a conversation with that man earlier in the day.

[@ILoveOldTWC]

Camille was stronger than Katrina. 🌀 Katrina was a Category 3. Camille was a Category 5. Camille was 2nd in intensity to hit the U.S. mainland after the 1935 Labor Day hurricane that hit the FL Keys.

[@alexlautzenheiser5024]

The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 was also in the midst of the Great Depression.

[@Ritabug34]

Katrina hit at 5

[@GW-gz8jh]

@@Ritabug34Katrina did not make landfall as a 5

[@Ritabug34]

The story concerning the Richelieu apartments was even portrayed this way on an episode of Quantum Leap called Hurricane. Not that you would expect TV to but you would expect TV to get something like that right but that would be so frustrating if it were me

[@jeffbryan4019]

I talked with Paul Williams about Camille . The reason they stayed at Trinity was because his wife Myrtle didn't want to stay at the school shelter . I also talked with famous survivors Mary Ann Gerlach and also Wade and Julia Guice . The winds of Camille were clocked at 234 mph thr board

[@jeanvignes]

Other states recognize and respect the awesome power of the ocean and designate a certain distance from the water either local, state or national parkland. People can visit but they cannot live on the brink of regular and predictable disaster. No one should be living within 5 miles of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It's insane. My family has been through the '45 hurricane, Betsy, Camille, Ivan, Katrina, etc. etc. It's sheer insanity to rebuild these communities on the beach front or the back bays. Barges and other large debris turn into battering rams, flattening everything in their path, and the water is strong enough to lift one side of a highway and drop it onto the other side! I saw that with my own eyes after Camille. There needs to be a buffer zone where people can play in nice weather but absolutely not stay during hurricanes, endangering their elders, their children, their pets, themselves, and innocent first responders who are just trying to save these heedless and stubborn folks who think an attitude can stop the enormous force of Mother Nature. NOPE.

[@jeanvignes]

@@Adelicows - Huge stretches of the Washington, Oregon. and Northern California Pacific coasts are uninhabited national or state parks, wildlife refuges, reservations with no coastal inhabitants, etc. That doesn't mean there aren't older private properties grandfathered in, but you don't see this repetitive rebuilding of houses that get demolished by storms over and over and over and over...

[@jeanvignes]

@@Adelicows - I agree. My grandmother's cat lived to be 21 because she never left him behind to drown!!!

[@american_cosmic]

@ALF RAYDOUGH They don't "deserve" it, you asshole... they just made the wrong decision.

[@PopLightBrown]

I agree, but it's their money they want to waste.

[@kuznickic1]

@@PopLightBrown it actually becomes the tax payers money

[@JaylenPotts-zs2qw]

Hurricane Camille was very intense and powerful

[@jakemiles1427]

I saw another documentary where a survivor from the Richeloue apartment complex said there was a hurricane party.

[@MapHist28]

I think That Person Lied Because More People Said There was No party

[@sirtrently77]

I know who you’re talking about, and I also saw that interview. I also saw that documentary from 1971 and it said a young boy survived when he floated out on a mattress. From what I’ve heard about the woman, she wasn’t the most reliable of sources, and I think the documentary put that in to encourage people to not hold hurricane parties when they can safely evacuate. Whatever the story, the moral remains: don’t stay in a building next to the beach when a hurricane comes a-knockin’.

[@jakemiles1427]

@@sirtrently77 Right, the documentary i saw was called " the wrath of god: hurricanes". I'm not sure what the truth is because i wasn't there but you're right; tge moral of the story is "get out".

[@sirtrently77]

@@jakemiles1427 that was the documentary I saw! Thank you, I was trying to think of the name of it.

[@chdreturns]

That survivor's testimony was unreliable, and it has been proven shes a pathological liar. There was no party.

[@boogitybear2283]

Riding out a Hurricane on the Coastline is about as stupid as you can get. At least migrate a few miles north!

[@markquiswest6607]

That's also for what I'm saying myself too!

[@jeffbryan4019]

Camille's wind was clocked at 234 mph onboard the freighter Silver Hawk that was beached at Gulfport harbor . The actual height of the surge was 28 feet . The real death toll was 172 in MS and another 153 in Virginia . Paul Williams had the greatest loss of any single tragedy in the history of Pass Christian. I often relate his story to others as a good reason why people should feel thankful for what they have . There was no hurricane party held at the Richelieu . Mary Ann Gerlach carried this story for 30 years . Katrina hit as à category 3 hurricane 36 years after Camille . While Katrina was far more destructive it was not nearly as violent as Camille . The survivors at ground zero of both storms described Camille as being far meaner than Katrina . Camille's surge extended 8 miles inland while Katrina's reached almost 7 miles in . Katrina was far bigger in size and therefore lasted much longer . The height of Camille's surge was about 28 feet at Pass Christian while Katrina's actual surge height reached about 31 feet in this area .

[@zelbongrimmage3770]

History repeated itself

[@chad3452]

Camille didn't have the storm surge that Katrina had but Katrina wasn't near violent wind wise because Camille had avg. 200mph winds and Katrina had avg 130mph ...2 Insane storms and Katrina wins the damage and death toll due to that insane 28ft surge ... Camille had 24.5ft

[@GW-gz8jh]

Camille’s surge was just as bad, and went a mile further inland than Katrina’s did

[@tonyhenthorn3966]

Holy moly that was more like a tsunami than a typical hurricane storm surge!

[@californiaweather4369]

That type of storm surge is actually common in major hurricanes and happened with Laura, Ida, and Michael in the last couple years.

[@chelseagreer6264]

I wouldnt really compare a atomic bomb and instant death of hundreds of thousands of people to a hurricane thats predicted and expected.

[@RobertDecker417]

The damage to structures is eerily similar. Winds are powerful

[@PopLightBrown]

The folks on the Mississippi coast didn't get warning about Camille until the morning of the day it hit. It was originally forecast to hit the Florida panhandle.

[@ttac-id.]

Wow

[@triton115]

Strange how Katrina was said to be worse than Camille, especially when Camille had sustained winds as high as 200 mph and Katrina was only like 135 at landfall. I would have thought; Katrina would have had to have sustained winds of at least 250 mph, even 300, to be significantly worse than Camille.

[@ClefairyRox]

Katrina had lower wind speeds but a higher surge than Camille. With very few exceptions (like with Andrew) water causes far more damage than wind in a hurricane, with storm surge almost always being the number 1 cause of damage and deaths.

[@chdreturns]

If you are going by sheer windspeeds than actually Wilma was the worst.

[@californiaweather4369]

@@chdreturns it was Hurricane Allen at 190 mph 1 min sustained in the Atlantic and Patricia in the East Pacific at 215 mph.

[@Shinuchiha_99]

@@ClefairyRoxit forced so much water into lake pontchartrain that it overloaded the water table and caused the levees to buckle and break under immense pressure.. my dad was on a team of contractors, scientists, architects, and engineers that worked in conjunction with the Us army corps of engineers and the USDOT and the Red Cross that helped ensure the safety and security of the levees and the surrounding neighborhoods so this would never happen again or would be much more mitigated and manageable from a clean up aspect.. Katrina was a disaster of enormous proportions and I think it’s safe to say it’s something I hope never happens again.. seeing it in the tv was hard enough.. I couldn’t imagine how my dad felt being at ground zero of that chaotic event.. he says he saw stuff that still sticks with him to this day wild dogs eating bodies that were decaying in the street after the floods receeded, people stranded on roofs, in trees, the smell of burning gasoline and diesel, downed electrical lines.. he just said it was an absolute crap show and never wants to see anything like it again and I don’t blame him 😓🌀⛈️hurricanes are no joke and definitely should never be underestimated

[@farhanatashiga3721]

Aw poor old Mr. Ben forever having to live with that false story attached to him.

[@ILoveOldTWC]

The Richleau Apartment Complex? I thought that's where they had the infamous hurricane party.

[@chdreturns]

The party never happened. That was all a fabrication of Mary Sue Gerlach. She has a track record of lying, and even successfully did it to get out of a murder charge.

[@Marsc9013]

yee

[@rosehavenfarm2969]

That wasn't decimation (10% gone), as the script writers wrote and Cantore read, that was devastation.

[@MatthewDoel32]

Like it or not, decimation has become synonymous with devastation.

[@rosehavenfarm2969]

@@MatthewDoel32 yep...but don't like it!

[@AnnChris-j4k]

1770, no warning?! Eesh 😮😮😮

[@haroldburrows4770]

Now I saw a Documentary that had a girl that was at the damn hurricane party and went out the 3rd floor window on a float or something and the apartment collapsed behind her with her boyfriend and the others inside. She sure as hell didnt sound like she was making the shit up so godammit get your shit straight. Has anyone else seen that interview. I'm gonna try n find it on KZbin. She vividly describes being washed in the maelstrom for hours then washed back toward the sea before winding up in a tree. Cantore how could u never have fuckin heard her story

[@julietsmith5925]

She lied.

[@urszulagromadzka9880]

Cu lu zeu

[@jeffbryan4019]

I talked with Paul Williams about Camille . The reason they stayed at Trinity was because his wife Myrtle didn't want to stay at the school shelter . I also talked with famous survivors Mary Ann Gerlach and also Wade and Julia Guice . The winds of Camille were clocked at 234 mph thr board