The second hurricane of the 1969 Atlantic hurricane season made landfall along the coasts of Mississippi and Louisiana shortly before midnight on August 17th. Named Hurricane Camille, the tropical cyclone was one of the strongest to strike mainland in the United States during the twentieth century. Hurricane Camille was also the second most intense and the third deadliest hurricane recorded in the United States. The Category 5 weather event caused approximately 250 deaths and billions of dollars in damages.
Hurricane Camille began as a tropical wave off the coast of Africa in early August of 1969. By mid-August, the tropical storm had developed into a hurricane off the coast of Cayman Islands with a northwesterly track. The hurricane weakened over Cuba but, eventually regained strength as it approached the Gulf of Mexico. Strengthening into a tropical storm, the hurricane became even more intense before making finally making landfall as a Category 5 tropical cyclone ripping into the coasts of Eastern Louisiana …show more content…
Tropical cyclones of great strength are known as hurricanes, typhoons or cyclones. Hurricanes typically form when easterly waves strengthen and a low pressure develops. A large amount of water vapor and latent heat are required to fuel these severe weather events. Therefore, the ocean and atmosphere must work together for a hurricane to actually develop. The sun warms the ocean water to at least eighty degrees Fahrenheit. Warm moist air rises and expands forming an area of low pressure. High wind patterns are also required for hurricanes to develop. This high pressure aloft is necessary to strengthen and organize the storm at surface. Additionally, extreme pressure gradients cause the wind to spiral at high very high speeds. The early phase of this type of severe weather event would be a tropical wave which strengthens into a tropical depression, followed by a tropical