[Granville-Hough] 1 Feb 2009 - Hurricane Camille

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:48:53 -0800
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: 1 Feb 2009 and Hurricane Camille


HURRICANE CAMILLE

    Of course, we remember Hurricane Katrina, just a few years ago, but 
its mentor was Hurricane Camille.  Since records have been kept, 
Hurricane Camille was the second Saffir/Simpson Category 5 storm to hit 
the United States, and it was the worst hurricane of the twentieth 
century.  But before I describe Hurricane Camille, I recall that in 1934 
when I entered sixth grade, I found we would study Mississippi History.  
My history book devoted almost a whole chapter to the Mississippi Sea 
Wall, which had been built from Pascagoula to Pass Christian, in spite 
of the Depression and shortage of funds.  At last, Mississippi would be 
free from the devastating storms which had prevented the development of 
the coastal area.  The wall was actually built in a series of steps on 
the ocean side, making easy access to the beaches.  Industrial and 
residential building went along slowly until WW II, when war industries 
moved to coastal areas.  Then thousands of homes were built right up to 
the sea wall the whole width of the state.  Hundreds of thousands of 
people moved to the coastal area.  This was the setting in July 1969 
when I passed through the state on my way to California.  Near my old 
home, the old landmark trees, tenant houses, barns, and cotton houses 
were still there but were deteriorating because so many of the people 
had moved to the coastal areas. 
    Soon after I reached California and got settled down, I began to 
read and hear about Hurricane Camille.  It had been identified as a 
tropical wave near the coast of Africa on 5 Aug.  By 14 Aug, it was 480 
miles south of Miami as a tropical storm.  It hit Cuba with 10 inches of 
rain and winds of 92 miles per hour.  Then it turned north toward the 
Mississippi River.  The last weather reconnaissance on Sunday 17 August 
measured winds of 200 miles per hour at the center.  No more flights 
were risked.  Warnings had been given from the Florida panhandle to 
Biloxi, then extended through New Orleans to Grand Isle, LA.  About half 
the people were able to evacuate northward.  By the time the main brunt 
of the storm hit Bay St. Louis about midnight of 17 Aug, the bridges and 
roads were flooded, trees and electrical lines were down, and further 
evacuation was impossible.  People boarded up, climbed on tops of their 
houses, and waited.  There was no communication possible.  All you could 
get on battery operated radios was more bad news.
    As the storm moved Northward through the entire state of 
Mississippi, it took out all the old houses, barns, trees, cotton 
houses, pecan orchards, tung plantations, citrus groves, so there was no 
way to help the cousins who had moved to the coast.  When the storm got 
to the Midwest it hit a moisture laden storm moving east and merged with 
it, creating floods, mud slides, and devastation .  When it got to the 
Clifton Forge area of Virginia, it rained 10 inches in 8 hours, causing 
the worst disaster ever recorded for the state of Virginia. Only one 
highway in the state of Virginia was left entirely open.
    When I got back to Mississippi on visits, all the old landmarks were 
gone.  I could not even recognize the turnoff to my old home.  This was 
in Smith County, a long way from the Gulf Coast, so we thought.
    The total cost of Hurricane Camille was 1.2 billion dollars in 1969 
money.  There were 257 deaths, 107 from flooding in Virginia.
    Uncle Tom Richardson had a tung plantation near Poplarville, MS, 
which was destroyed.  Not long afterwards, he sold out to my brother 
Roland Hough, and moved to South Carolina. 
    This mention of Uncle Tom's tung plantation triggered memories of 
Harold Hopkins, who was sent from Washington, DC, to do recovery work.  
Harold Hopkins was my schoolmate in Mize Grade School, and I believe he 
is the main historian of that town.  He became a journalist and spent 
most of his life in the national government environment in Washington 
DC.  His comments will be given tomorrow.