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CAMILLE: 20 Years Later
On Aug. 17,
1969, the Coast was battered by Hurricane Camille. This is the story of Camille as told by those whose Lives she changed forever.
About this section
Most articles and photographs in the section were first printed in The Sun Herald the week of Aug, 13,1989, the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Camille. Copies are available by mail for $2 each. Write:
The Sun Herald Marketing Department P.O. Box 4567 Biloxi, MS 39535-4567
The Sun Herald would like to thank the following individuals who entrusted to us their collections of Hurricane Camille photos. Without them, this section would not be possible: Dennis Holston of Gulfport, Bob Hubbard of Waveland, and Tommy Munro of Biloxi.
Staff
Editor: Chris Biunsman Editorial assistants: Andrea Yeager arid Matt ScaSan Design: Van Williams Layout: Sharon Waldo, Alan Schmidt, Paul Hampton and Kathy Nelson Graphics: Vem Williams and Michael Eacott
Paste up: Judy Ccx*
JOE SCHOLTES
After Camille, the rubble that blocked Main Street in Biloxi was cleared in days. But it was months before all roads on the Coast were open.
C ▼ A ▼ M^ItLtLtE
By KAT BERGERON
Cover photo: Dennis Holston
THEsSyN HERALD
Hurricane Camille swirled her skirts in dizzying anger, forever changing the appearance and character of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Her deadly eye set out to prove the old adage, “If looks could kill.”
Dead: 141
Injured: 9,472
A night of horror reigned Aug. 17, 1969. Boats, houses, businesses, entire downtowns were flattened by Camille’s 200-plus-mph breath and 24-foot-high spittle. Those who survived her tantrum gained a sense of mortality; even the inlanders who had the least damage were awed by her energy.
Camille left deadly footprints from Cuba to Virginia, but she stomped around longest in South Mississippi. The damage bill here was in excess of $1 billion, the death total 141. About 74,000 families suffered losses, everything from spoiled freezer food to entire houses.
Twenty years later, the scars are still visible in a hurting economy, in beach driveways that go nowhere, in photographs of lost landmarks. Even the massive rebuilding can not erase the mind-
pictures and the stories of that Sunday night.
Camille veterans take the storm personally, and most prefer to use the pronoun “she,” instead of “it.” She was an unladylike lady, they insist.
Camille: A ceremonial attendant
Baby-name books define Camille as “a young ceremonial attendant, ” reminiscent of the days of storm goddesses and temples. But this Camille arrived without ceremony, intent on ending the summer rites with an unforgettable wallop.
The stories spawned in her wake conjure up an odd mixture of disbelief and coincidence, of tears and laughter. Take, for example, young Lisa Gollott When the daughter of then-state Rep. Tommy Gollott was told her Biloxi house had been badly damaged, she innocently asked:
“What about the hurricane fence we just put around the house. Didn’t it keep the hurricane out?”
On a sadder note is the oft-told story of the new $900,000 Harrison County Library in Gulfport. When debris-strewn water swept through the first floor, it deposited a dead German shepherd on the bookshelf titled, “Animals We Love.”
Please see CAMILLE, Page 3
BILL DENNIS
Camille’s storm surge washed the shrimp boat Eugene Ellzey up onto the L&N railroad tracks at Point Cadet in Biloxi.