Hurricane Camille
[Categories: Atlantic hurricanes]
Hurricane Camille was a (Click link for more info and facts about Category 5) Category 5 (A severe tropical cyclone usually with heavy rains and winds moving a 73-136 knots (12 on the Beaufort scale)) hurricane that struck the (A state in the Deep South on the gulf of Mexico; one of the Confederate States during the American Civil War) Mississippi (A coast of the Gulf of Mexico) Gulf Coast region on the 17th and 18th of August 1969. (see track of Camille's eye at landfall).
Camille is considered the first-or second-worst storm ever to hit the mainland (North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776) United States. Camille had winds in excess of 210 (The ratio of the distance traveled (in miles) to the time spent traveling (in hours)) mph (340 (A metric unit of length equal to 1000 meters (or 0.621371 miles)) km/h) and a (Click link for more info and facts about storm surge) storm surge of over 24 (Click link for more info and facts about feet) feet (6 ((prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse) metres) (see storm surge profile).
Camille killed 143 people along (A state in the southeastern United States on the Gulf of Mexico; one of the Confederate states during the American Civil War) Alabama, (A state in the Deep South on the gulf of Mexico; one of the Confederate States during the American Civil War) Mississippi, and (A state in southern United States on the Gulf of Mexico; one of the Confederate states during the American Civil War) Louisiana. The storm moved inland and turned eastward. As it reached southern (A state in the eastern United States; one of the original 13 colonies; one of the Confederate States in the American Civil War) Virginia it unleashed torrential rains of up to 31 (A unit of length equal to one twelfth of a foot) inches (790 (A metric unit of length equal to one thousandth of a meter) mm) in some areas which killed 113 additional persons due to (A sudden local flood of great volume and short duration) flash floods and (A slide of a large mass of dirt and rock down a mountain or cliff) landslides. 8,931 people were injured, 5,662 homes were destroyed, 13,915 homes experienced major damage. The area of total destruction in (Click link for more info and facts about Harrison County, Mississippi) Harrison County, Mississippi alone was 68 square (A unit of length equal to 1760 yards) miles (176 km²). Total estimated cost of damage was (Click link for more info and facts about US$) US$1.42 billion.
Part of the death toll from Camille was due to the refusal of people along the coast to evacuate.
In 1969 the naming conventions for hurricanes were not strictly controlled as they are today. (Click link for more info and facts about John Hope) John Hope, a (A specialist who studies processes in the earth's atmosphere that cause weather conditions) meteorologist at the (Click link for more info and facts about National Hurricane Center) National Hurricane Center named the hurricane in honor of his daughter Camille who had just graduated from high school.
This part really stood out...John Hope named the storm Camille after his daughter who had just graduated from high school.
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/h/hu/hurricane_camille.htm
