Camille

She was out there out there in the dark A brooding monster deciding where to attack Her fuel and her ammo: Waters, warm Gulf waters She attacked... Howling, shrieking winds Thirty feet of churning sea A thirty foot tidal wave A thirty foot Tsunami swallowing the land... Sent to purge? Sent to cleanse? Sent to teach? God only knows God and the Daughter Mighty Mother Nature... but she was horrible horrible and beautiful... Hurricane Camille Biloxi/Gulfport/Bay St. Louis, MS August 17-18, 1969 Deaths: 259 Tidal Surge: 28 ft. Est. Wind speed: 225+MPH (The wind instruments were destroyed at 200 mph) Imagine an F-5 tornado reaching across the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast...Add a 28 ft. storm surge to that and you can imagine the destructive force of Camille. Those who witnessed the aftermath of the storm said it looked like an atomic bomb had been dropped. Of the 259 deaths, 113 were caused in the state of Virginia due to catastrophic flooding... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBsHreetAe4

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Paul Callus

Date: 1/13/2015 11:17:00 AM

Your expressive poem about Camille is one of the best that I have read about this natural catastrophe. Luckily we do not suffer from such unwelcome visitors in Malta. We had some strong winds some days ago and it was not at all nice, let alone having tornados! #7 // paul

Jan Allison

Date: 1/12/2015 2:45:00 PM

I am so so pleased we are not subject to such extremes of weather - my heart goes out to the victims of natural disasters like this I cannot even begin to imagine the devastation this causes - great descriptive write - a 7 from me:-) Hugs jan xx

Tim Ryerson
Date: 1/12/2015 3:25:00 PM

Thanks my friend! We lived in Biloxi from '73 to '79 and went through a major hurricane though not as powerful as Camille....If you like, check out my narrative poem 'Fredrick' which by the way was the first hurricane with a male name...All before had women's names