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 Pass Christian, Mississippi
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Hurricane Camille, the USA's second strongest 20th century hurricane, hit the Gulf Coast in 1969. Camille became a hurricane on Aug. 15, 1969 south of Cuba and began quickly growing that night as it moved into the Gulf of Mexico. On the morning of Aug. 17, when Camille was centered about 250 miles south of Mobile, Ala., an Air Force reconnaissance plane measured a barometric pressure of 26.84 inches of mercury and winds of more than 200 mph. Until that report, Camille had been expected to push a 12-foot storm surge ashore when it hit Mississippi. But the Air Force observation prompted forecasters to alert local officials to a surge maybe twice that high. Wade Guice, who was then civil defense director for Harrison County, Miss., said the warning prompted additional, last-minute evacuations. He characterized the plane's report as "the difference between survival and 10,000 tombstones." Still, when Camille's eye smashed into the Pass Christian, Miss., area with winds gusting to 200 mph and water 24 feet above normal high tide, it killed 143 people along the coast from Alabama into Louisiana. As Camille moved inland across Mississippi, it weakened to a tropical depression with winds less than 39 mph. It continued to the northeast into the Appalachians of southern Virginia. Here, the storm's remnants produced torrential rain that killed another 113 people in flash floods and landslides. Source: USA Today 5/3/05
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