If you've ever wondered (hurricane Camille advisory #17)

[Rocketman]

I was 9, spent the night at Dolan Hall on KAFB. We lost everything, we lived in base housing on C Street. My Grandmother's house was off W. 1st St., which is only 2 blocks from the beach and her home was untouched.

I will not eat spam to this day

[timNms]

I was 7 years old. I remember Camille well. We lived in a three room house at the time. (When I was in 3rd grade, my dad added 2 bedrooms, a hallway, and an indoor bathroom to the house LOL we thought we had moved up town!!!).

We were about an hour north of Gulfport or 20 miles north of Hattiesburg. (My mom still lives in the same house and we're next door to her place.) Winds here were at least 100 mph sustained. Our house lost lots of tin from the roof. Mom's kitchen looked like a lake. Sometime during the night, I managed to go to sleep. Being 7, I didn't realize the danger we were in. My mom says she spent the night praying. She said she was afraid that the old house was going to collapse at any moment.

My most vivid memory of Camille was seeing the traffic the day before she hit. Highway 49 was jammed with bumper to bumper traffic. At the time I didn't know where everyone was going, but now I know! The traffic from the evacuees trying to escape Ivan's wrath reminded me of Camille's "traffic". The scary thing about Camille was that lots of people had short notice to evacuate. Almost from the start, she was projected to strike Florida. Mississippi residents had little time to escape.

Also, the timber in our area was wasted! I can remember seeing tree upon tree layed down or broken down. And MAN! was it hot! We were without electricity for about a week. I can only imagine how horrible it must have been along the coast.

My dad was a carpenter. He gathered a crew together and headed to the coast to help people rebuild after the storm. He said the sights there were horrifying. He also couldn't believe how some people were going down there just to scam those folks who had already lost almost everything they owned.

I hope no one ever has to endure the wrath of another Camille!! I can only imagine the destruction a storm like Camille would bring to the MS coast, not to mention the high probability of loss of life!