Approximately fifty years ago, Hurricane Camille made landfall along the Mississippi Gulf Coast as an astonishing Category 5 Hurricane. Camille currently ranks among the top three deadliest hurricanes to ever make landfall on the U.S. Camille’s winds clocked the highest speeds recorded in the U.S.
reaching 190 mph. Camille also drove a record storm surge of 22.6 feet in Christian, Mississippi (Masters, 2014). Based upon this information we’re well aware that this extreme weather event had an astronomical impact economically resulting in a total of $1.
43 billion dollars’ worth of damage. The regions that were impacted significantly included Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Virginia. Civilians living in the following states experienced catastrophic destruction to their property and agriculture. According to Red Cross, 5,328 homes were destroyed, 11,667 suffered major damage; 1,007 trailer homes, 569 small businesses, 32 boats destroyed or severely damaged (White, 1969). Although 1969 seems technologically historic, our government was actually well equipped to monitor Hurricane Camille, but unfortunately couldn’t accurately predict where the storm would make landfall. Therefore, this greatly complicated preparation efforts for the people. Several hours prior to landfall, evacuation was impossible due to a number of low-lying bridges, so local officials appeared on radio and television stations, and advised the population to abandon their homes (Oxelson, 1999). Despite these efforts of last-minute preparedness police and civil defense officials also went through communities of great danger and advised people in person.
After landfall the damage completely obliterated all infrastructure including roads, bridges, railways, airports and farms.
