Lessons from Hurricane Camille

for foolhardy Floridians who "plan to stay"

I know this story and heard an interview with one of survivors from the apartment complex of which only the foundation remained. Will read! Really jaw dropping account of the power of that storm. I don't this hurricane will be a Camille but we'll see.

BTW, Pass Christian was nearly leveled by Katrina, too, but got little coverage because it had no political value.

Great read. Thanks.

I lived there and returning home couldn't help but cry.

Andrew too.

Trump better Save Lil Wayne

Hurri. Irma struck Rep. FL Gov. Rick Scott's mansion head-on.

The latest projection (2 pm) has the eye of Hurri. Dorian striking Mar-a-Lago head-on. 'Coincidence'?! The definition of mar: impair the appearance of; disfigure.

There Are No Coincidences

I lived in Metairie, LA when Camille hit. I was in 3rd grade and remember seeing shit flying sideways down the street. If the storm had deviated a few miles to the west we would have been in deep trouble. Afterwards my Dad took us to Biloxi, which got the worst of it. Many houses had nothing but the bathtub and toilet remaining. Two giant oil tankers up on dry land.

Thanks for warning people

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... SEE! ... the media was doing FAKE NEWS even then! ...
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... in wisconsin when we hear/know storms are heading our way we get stuff undercover AND head for cover if it is a tornado ...
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... those living where flooding can happen are ever watchful ...
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... these storms coming to the east coast are know long in advance? ...
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... maybe a "hurricane holiday" into a northern state would make sense for that time? ...
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It will always be forecast to hit south florida because they evacuate from the south to the north. It isnot head to west palm.

Sharks need to eat, too.

I know that is an injoke.

Two days after the Storm, Duckworth's father drove him to Jackson, MS. Several days later, he was recuperating at his best friend's house in Memphis when he sought out a reporter to correct the Richelieu story. "I didn't want Luane's family to believe that she had died in a hurricane party," Duckworth said. "I made the reporter promise that he would put the truth on the national wire so that rumor could be stopped."
The rumor, instead, grew bigger. The telephone wires were down, the Memphis Commercial Appeal story never made it to the Coast, and the Richelieu saga of Mary Ann Gerlach took over.
Gerlach claimed to be the only survivor, and is the one most quoted about a hurricane party on the third floor. Yet, she and her sixth husband were asleep in their second-floor apartment when the building disintegrated and she landed in the swirling abyss. Many Camille survivors would not talk to the media, but she would and remained in demand at Camille anniversary memorials. Her interviews kept the legend alive.
In 1982, when on trial for murdering her 11th husband, Gerlach's lawyer used an insanity defense, claiming her Camille experience and the resulting drug and alcohol abuse caused her to kill her husband. She was found guilty, sentenced to life imprisonment, but was paroled in 1992.
Duckworth does not want a "he-said, she-said" debate, but he wonders why nobody questioned the many discrepancies. “Of the 23 known residents to have stayed the Storm at the Richelieu,” he pointed out, “only eight are known to be dead or missing.”
Billy Bourdin, a Pass Christian historian and retired plumber who rescued many that night, wonders the same thing. He said that Pass Christian Civil Defense Director Parnell McKay went to his grave trying to correct the story, which he often reprinted in the weekly newspaper that he published. McKay's records and editorials, needless to say, were ignored by the larger media.
Bourdin, who has picked up McKay's mantle, tells of a History Channel documentary in which he was interviewed. He explained the Richelieu dead and the false party rumor, but none of that script got into the documentary.


Oh, wow, this had to be the woman I saw interviewed and I thought the hurricane party lie was the truth. Fake news media even at it back then because the party story was "sexier". Fuckers.

I Lived through it actually... we lived on the south end of sugarloaf key when my father was stationed at NASKW [NQX]back in 69. We had to evacuate to the base.
I was five at the time and lost the tip of my right index finger in a door due to the winds.
Yea, I bear scars from Camille.

Actually I just talked to sis, we lived on summerland key and went to school on sugarloaf.

It's Spanish, "Einstein":

The company identifies the name Mar-a-Lago as Spanish for "Sea-to-Lake,"[10] referring to the fact that the resort extends the entire width of Palm Beach, from the Atlantic Ocean to what is now the Intracoastal Waterway, but previously was known as Lake Worth.

I remember when news helicopters did their flyovers and that destruction was shown on the news. I was astounded. The only thing that shocked me more was watching the tsunami roll over Japan.

there is a great deal of controversy over the hurricane party. I remember a made for TV movie about it in the 70's....

The point is, people stay and think they can ride out the storm. Then the building falls apart from wind and rain and you can't stay afloat in the torrent of water.

The same happened in Super Storm Sandy in Staten Island. Several people lost their lives near the waterfront.

I'll bet. It looked to be a very quaint and pretty place. Total Americana. There's a town in Florida called Seaside that I loved when I saw pics of it but my thought was that one day a hurricane will scrape the whole place away, due to it's location and being on completely flat ground up against the gulf.

All traffic stopped on I95 below Palm Beach due to rollover accident.

If everyone evacuated when a hurricane is coming, millions would evacuate because you can't tell where it's going to hit until the last day or so. By then, getting out becomes a lot harder and motels and hotels are booked. I have a lot of compassion for people without much money trying to make such a call. Not everyone can afford to get out days ahead of time and pay for lodging.

interesting story.i always believed in this account of hurricane party,its amazing it was'nt ever really corrected

I think part of the problem is that the media want to treat every hurricane as if it were the end of the world so people keep watching. Then when you finally get a Category 4 or 5 hurricane that really is potentially the end of the world (for the areas they're going to hit, at least), people have gotten jaded and don't realize it's serious this time.

yes, I agree with that too....but you have to be smart. If it's a day away and it's pointed directly at where you live, you have to get out ASAP. Even if it's at a shelter provided by the towns...but of course, look at the Superdome story....what a disaster that was.

interesting tidbit....never knew that.

Late August of 1970, there was similar hurricane party down on the pier at the Corpus Christi Yacht Club. Think it was hurrican Beulah. The storm was supposed to come in high class 1 or low wind class 2, but strengthened an hour before landfall to 180mph, iirc.

There were partiers drinking out on the CCYC pier, quite a few; none were ever seen again...

We were headed to the Rio Grande Valley to shoot Whitewings over Labor Day. Saw much devastation inland around Robstown. Remember seeing a straw blown all the way through a tree trunk.

This is Peak Hurricane Season. Early season storms usually no big deal, and very rare for one after mid-Oct, but mid-Aug to late Sept are the killers...

Being stuck on the road somewhere in an evac cold be just as fatal as hanging beachfront. Anyone close to shoreline ought be very concerned about Storm Surge. Even living behind a seawall can fail you.

Good luck to all in the next few days...