"Isaac's Storm" - Incredible Book about a Hurricane in 1900

[BOSSHOG]

which hit Galveston, TX. At least 6,000 people were killed. There were no warnings, it just started to storm and got worse and worse and worse. No planned evacuations, no minute by minute computer updates; just massive destruction and death. Excellent read about the power of mother nature. Author - Erik Larson

"Hurricane Camille" - Monster Storm of the Gulf Coast by Philip Hearn. August 1969, massive destruction on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.


We will most likely have another book soon about a killer Hurricane named Dennis.

[ewagner]

1. Listened to it

on Chapter a Day on Wisconsin Public Radio...

great book....read masterfully....chilling account

[donco6]

2. They had a Discovery Channel show on this.

Very scary. The part about the orphanage being swept away, and the bodies being found later - lashed together.

[jobycom]

3. Camille

Some of my earliest memories are of Camille. My daughter's middle name is Camille, after the storm.

200 people were killed on the Mississippi Gulf Coast--most of them because they would not evacuate. About 60 were killed in a condo on the beach, because they wanted to have a hurricane party. Two men decided to stay in an old Civil War fort on Ship Island, about two miles offshore. They lived, and their story is one of the most terrifying you could hear.

One woman stayed in her second floor condo with her husband. Early in the morning she heard people knocking on the ceiling, making a ton of racket. Thinking it was the party downstairs, she pulled her curtains back to yell out the window. The window was underwater--the knocking was from the furniture below floating into the ceiling. She turned to yell to her husband just as the whole condo gave way. She grabbed a kid's pool toy and clung to it. Her last glimpse of her husband was of him clinging to another toy, screaming to her for help. The tide washed her inland where she got stuck in some tree limbs as the water receded. Years later she murdered her fourth or fifth husband, and as a defense she claimed that her ordeal had driven her insane. The defense didn't work, but it had some merit.

People on the Coast fear another Camille hitting the much-more-populated Mississippi Coast now. I know they claim Andrew was a Class 5, but some of that evaluation was based on the damage done to poorly constructed houses, more than any direct measurements of the storm. Camille's power on a populated coast would be horrifying. Though a lot of lives would be saved just by evacuations of the first half mile of coastline.

[BOSSHOG]

4. If the evacuation of the Mississippi Gulf Coast

hasn't started already, its too late. The traffic is horrendous around Gulfport/Biloxi on a good day. And Hard Rock Cafe is putting up the world's largest Guitar at their new restaurant right on the Gulf. I hope it survives. We get to Gulfport a couple times a year and I swear to God, I can feel Camille while we drive down Highway 90. There is an old fishing boat converted into a gift shop. It is far from waters edge but it is where Camille put it.

[jobycom]

5. They only have to go a mile or two inland to escape the storm surge.

After that, it's all winds and tornados, so they can hide out in local gyms and schools. But you're right, the evacuation routes are horrible. They've been working on those, but they aren't built yet. What they do is open all the north/south highways in one direction only, but even so, there is only one n/s highway over two lanes that goes very far inland, until you get to Alabama or Louisiana.

I remember when I was four seeing the SS Camille (the gift shop you mention) lying on its side where it is now, just after the storm. It was an old tug boat that had sunk offshore, and was washed up. (I think--I've heard several different stories about where the boat came from). There was also an old schooner that was washed onto Highway 90. Until very recently, there were empty lots and bare slabs from buildings washed away. There was an old hotel that had been damaged and never rebuilt. A lot of those have been finally torn up or built over in the last five years, because gambling has pumped so much money into the area.

The slab of the condo where they held the hurricane party was empty a long time, and was one of those places that people grew quiet when passing.

So you're right, Camille left a huge impact on the area. A lot of storms have hit since, including Class 3 storms, and none have had that lasting an effect.

[Richardo]

6. Love that book. Have bought it for about 3 other people.

Tell people that 6,000-10,000 people died in a US natural disaster and you get a lot of :wow:

Not a very well-known story outside Texas and the Gulf Coast. The island was completely inundated by the storm surge.

[Richardo]

7. Also, I recommend his subsequent book "Devil in the White City"

The parallel stories of the planning, development and construction of the Chicago World's Fair, and the United States' first serial killer, who victimized those drawn to the Fair. Chilling.

[ramapo]

8. Excellent book, a serious warning to any coast dweller

Despite the storms of last year, residents along the east and gulf coasts have been very fortunate. There has yet to be a direct hit of a highly populated, low-lying area since the massive population increase of the past 30-40 years.

This was an amzing book. Fortunately there are warnings posted far in advance so people generally have the chance to evacuate. But I think many still discount the danger.

Another excellent and sobering book is, Sudden Storm, which details the 1938 storm that hit Long Island, coastal Connecticut and Rhode Island. That was another incredibly powerful storm which also hit without warning.

[Sequoia]

9. Very chilling and good.

Some people chopped holes in the floor because they thought that would anchor the house. Why would they think that? My favorite scariest part was the mile long (?) moving ridge of junk advancing in the darkness mowing everything down in it's path.

I read "Devil in the White City" too. Here's an interesting video

http://www.hhholmesthefilm.com/main.html