Live Local: Remembering Hurricane Camille

It’s currently hurricane season here on the Coast and Mississippi officials are making sure residents stay prepared and up to date on the latest information.

Over the years, technology had made this easier.

For this week’s Live Local, we take a look back at the devastation caused by Hurricane Camille.

The year was 1969 when Hurricane Camille slashed through the Mississippi Coast. Biloxi Library Historian Jane Shambra said, “It was in August that Hurricane Camille hit with the most devastating winds and surges of water that no one expected.”

Volunteers flocked to the Coast to aid in relief. At the time, two people were instrumental for their recovery efforts: Wade Guice, former Harrison County Civil Defense Director, and his wife Julia, who served as the Biloxi Civil Defense Director.

To provide documentation of the great catastrophe, Julia had an idea. “She went to the store, brought these instant cameras, and gave them to different military groups and said ‘I want you to take pictures and bring them back to me.’”

She developed the hundreds of photos and later donated them to the Biloxi Library. Most of them were taken inside Harrison County, but the exact location can’t always be identified. “The only way you know exactly where they took the pictures is if there were remains of the sign or the Biloxi Lighthouse in the background.”

In a time before pictures could be easily shared using smart phones and social media, documentation like these photos remind us of the damage storms can cause and why we need to take the time to prepare. “It’s a great learning experience to continue to talk about storms, not just Katrina, because a lot of people don’t even understand what happened there and that was 16 years ago.”

Even though Camille was over 51 years ago, we still talk about it to remind ourselves to stay prepared for what could come our way.

Live Local is made possible through the support of the Biloxi Library System.