All the Hurricane events recently have stirred memories, this is a work in progress and photos will be shared as soon as I find them.

I remember Camille Aug. 19-20, 1969. I was 9 and a half years old then living here in Nelson County Va. Woke up to the front yard alongside U.S. Rt. 29 that looked like a Lake. I wrecked my bike that morning and still have a scar on my foot.

The first recorded death of Camille (in Nelson) was a half mile from here, someone who was travelling through, poor soul. I remember the clothes from their vehicle in the top of the trees and the car washed up on the hillside. The trees from the mountains were piled up on what was left of 29 like toothpicks, another lake had formed.

In the days after I remember witnessing the massive destruction and landslides along with Chinooks and Hueys filling the air. When we finally were able to reach Lovingston (4 miles away) Rt. 29 was a landing zone for helicopters and small planes. The help poured in.

The Funeral Home in town had a reefer trailer parked beside it with the bodys that were recovered, I can still remember the smell to this day. The scars are still here, the mountain slides still show and friends are still missing, some never found to this day.

I do remember though that we all pulled together, there was NO looting, only kindness.

Like I said more to come. Help out if you can, some folks really need it.



Danny

Interesting reminder from someone whose "been there, done that."

Quoted: Interesting reminder from someone whose "been there, done that."

+1

 Thanks for sharing.

Quoted: Quoted: Interesting reminder from someone whose "been there, done that."  Thanks for sharing.

+1.

I was a youngster living in Baton Rouge then.  We caught the western edge of Camille and it was awfull!  Those poor people in Mississippi!

I got caught off the coast of ME during the perfect storm. IIRC Halloween '90 or '91.

WILD!!!

I used to bear hunt between Piney and Tye rivers in Nelson County, VA. The mountains still bear those scars from the landslides. Up big Piney on the Amherst County side there is a boulder sitting in a front yard that came down the mountain barely missing a house. I know a few people that woke up that morning only to find devastation. I was only three at the time of the hurricane but vaguely remember seeing the aftermath on the news.

Here are some pics I scanned till I can get Dad to tell me where the ones he took are.













Danny

Quoted: I used to bear hunt between Piney and Tye rivers in Nelson County, VA. The mountains still bear those scars from the landslides. Up big Piney on the Amherst County side there is a boulder sitting in a front yard that came down the mountain barely missing a house. I know a few people that woke up that morning only to find devastation. I was only three at the time of the hurricane but vaguely remember seeing the aftermath on the news.

Not that far from here, I'm very close to Colleen on US 29.

ETA: If you are ever back up this way, holler at me. I'd like to meet you.

Danny

There is/was a piece on the History channel about Camille and some of other big hurricanes. They had a woman on who stayed in this place with a bunch of her friends to have a hurricane party. IIRC she woke up about 3 miles away. She was the ONLY survivor out of the group.

Quoted: www.nws.noaa.gov/om/all-haz/images/Hurricane%20Before%20Hi.jpg There is/was a piece on the History channel about Camille and some of other big hurricanes. They had a woman on who stayed in this place with a bunch of her friends to have a hurricane party. IIRC she woke up about 3 miles away. She was the ONLY survivor out of the group.

Holy Crap!

I bet she's scared shitless of Hurricane's now, I'd be.

Danny

Shameless bump for the late night crew.

Danny

Quoted: i was 2 years old. my dad was in the air force stationed at keesler. they lost their house and many freinds that stayed to watch the storm come in. the next year he left the airforce and moved to alabama.

The rain and the landslides is what got us.

I don't recall any wind.

Just a huge downpour of near biblical proportions.

Danny

tag

Quoted: i was 2 years old. my dad was in the air force stationed at keesler. they lost their house and many freinds that stayed to watch the storm come in. the next year he left the airforce and moved to alabama.

Was ~9 mnths old, Dad was USN stationed at the SeaBee base in Gulfport.  Lived in Biloxi but rode the storm out on base.

Quoted: www.nws.noaa.gov/om/all-haz/images/Hurricane%20Before%20Hi.jpg There is/was a piece on the History channel about Camille and some of other big hurricanes. They had a woman on who stayed in this place with a bunch of her friends to have a hurricane party. IIRC she woke up about 3 miles away. She was the ONLY survivor out of the group.

I'm not trying to crap in anyone's thread, but the infamous "hurricane party" apparently didn't happen.

I recall seeing that episode of "Wrath of God" (I think it was) on the History Channel and I've always been interested in extreme weather phenomenon.  Knowledgeable people have cast doubt upon the "hurricane party" story.  It is a fact that there were indeed survivors from the Richelieu apartment complex.

The Weather Channel's website  (I just googled it and this was the first one I came up with) has this:

Weather Channel-Camille

Wikpedia tells about the urban legend in more detail:

Wikpedia-Camille

The pertinent part states:

One persistent legend about Camille states that a hurricane party was held on the third floor of the Richelieu Manor Apartments in Pass Christian, Mississippi that wound up in the path of the eyewall as it made landfall. The high storm surge flooded and destroyed the building, and there was only one survivor to tell of the story of the 21 others. Who the survivor is, how many party guests there were, and just how far the sole survivor was swept by the storm varies with the retelling.

In reality, most of the people that stayed in the Richelieu Apartments survived, and there was no party. Residents, exhausted from helping to prepare the town to weather the storm, took refuge in the building not out of recklessness, but because it was believed to be one of the sturdiest buildings in the area. Survivor Ben Duckworth is quoted in Hurricane Camille: Monster Storm of the Gulf Coast as stating that the Richelieu was a designated civil defense air-raid shelter. However, their faith in the building's sturdiness was unfounded, as it was completely demolished by the storm. Twenty-three people are known to have stayed in the Richelieu Apartments during Hurricane Camille, of which eight died.

The tale of the lone survivor and the party appears to have originated with survivor Mary Ann Gerlach. Other survivors, including Duckworth and Richard Keller have expressed irritation at the story.

"The hurricane party never happened, nor were the number of deaths associated with the apartment inhabitants accurate," says Pat Fitzpatrick, Mississippi State University professor and author of Hurricanes: A Reference Handbook.

The mythical hurricane party has been referenced several times in pop culture, and formed the basis for an episode of Quantum Leap titled "Hurricane".

I obviously wasn't alive during Camille, but the signs of the flooding/landslides are still obvious.  You folks in Neslon got the brunt of the storm.

I was 8 years old and stayed at my Uncles house in Grand bay, Mobile Alabama. We were living in Atlanta Ga. at the time, my Uncle called my father to come and help him move all of his meat at his meat packing house in Mobile to his steak house in town. The storm was on it's way when we got there. We then went to my Uncle's house, who lived on Grand Bay, which is on Bayou LaBatre, front row to the storm and it's surge...his house was on one of the highest spots on Bayou La Batre, I'll never forget that night nor the days that followed, it was the beginning of many storms and hurricanes that I've gone through. The noises it made went right through me, I was'nt as scared as I was perplexed at what was happening, trees flying we heard a boat hit the backside of the house and stayed there (40 foot shrimper). Hurricane Opal scared me because of the surge from the Gulf coming to the first floor, Ivan somewhat scared me, Eloise, Elena pretty good blows. Hugo was terrifying becuase of it's shear size and breadth, I was in Georgetown S.C. for that little fiasco.

i've been through 40 storms in my 44 years now..I did miss Andrew but I have been through some of the biggest the last 40 years.

Quoted: Quoted: *snip* Welcome to yesterday...

*DOH*!

I'm an idgit!

where's the looters?

Same type of destruction now in Mississippi as back in '69 except more extensive. Check out this link for tons of photos posted by locals and news photographers.

www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/

If your familiar with the area you know along the casino/beach road there is virtually nothing slowing or blocking the tremendous surge of water getting to the numerous homes, condos/apartments , businesses and now casinos located on barges. Some of these casino barges were literally lifted and floated over the beach road to the other side.