Hurricane Camille
| Category 5 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS) | |
Hurricane Camille over the Gulf of Mexico
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| Formed | 14 August 1969 |
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| Dissipated | 22 August 1969 |
| Highest winds |
1-minute sustained: 175 mph (280 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 900 mbar (hPa); 26.58 inHg |
| Fatalities | 259 direct |
| Damage | $1.42 billion (1969 USD) |
| Areas affected | Cuba, Yucatan Peninsula, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Southern United States, Midwestern United States, Eastern Seaboard |
| Part of the 1969 Atlantic hurricane season | |
Hurricane Camille was the third and strongest tropical cyclone and second hurricane during the 1969 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the second of three catastrophic Category 5 hurricanes to make landfall in the United States during the 20th century (the others being 1935's Labor Day hurricane and 1992's Hurricane Andrew), which it did near the mouth of the Mississippi River on the night of August 17. Camille was the second strongest U.S. landfalling hurricane in recorded history in terms of atmospheric pressure, behind the Labor Day Hurricane in 1935.
The storm formed on 14 August and rapidly deepened. It scraped the western edge of Cuba at Category 2 intensity. Camille rapidly deepened once again over the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall with a pressure of 900 mbar (hPa; 26.58 inHg), estimated sustained winds of 175 mph (280 km/h) and a peak official storm surge of 24 feet (7.3 m). The hurricane flattened nearly everything along the coast of the U.S. state of Mississippi, and caused additional flooding and deaths inland while crossing the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. In total, Camille killed 259 people and caused $1.42 billion (1969 USD, $9.27 billion 2017 USD) in damages. To date, a complete understanding of the reasons for the system's power, extremely rapid intensification over open water and strength at landfall has not been achieved.
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