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Storm Ripped. Gulfport was in ruins, and dozens of other Mississippi towns were severely damaged. The storm ripped up trees, roads and bridges and threw three cargo ships onto Gulfport piers. The hardest-hit town was Pass Christian. More than 100 bodies were found sprawled in the mud of the town of 4,000, and one entire family of 13 was killed. Every house was damaged. Swirling water gouged into a cemetery, ripped open coffins and deposited their ghoulish contents in treetops. A brick building 200 yards from the beach, the Richelieu Apartments, was leveled to its foundation along with other steel and concrete buildings. In the rubble, 23 bodies were found, among them twelve people who, hours before, had ignored warnings to evacuate and gathered instead for a cozy hurricane party.
For survivors, chaos reigned along the coast. There was no gas, electricity or drinking water. Roads were impassable, railroads washed out, telephone lines down. The stench of death was everywhere. Victims' bodies were found in bushes, trees and rooftops; dead animals were scattered along the coast. Medicine was scarce, and there were fears of a typhoid epidemic. Pascagoula, Miss., was invaded by hundreds of poisonous cottonmouth snakes flooded out of swamps.
Looters and black-marketeers added to the misery. Gasoline and drinking water were sold for $1 a gallon and bread for 50¢ a loaf, until authorities began arresting profiteers. Limited martial law was declared along the Mississippi coast, and National Guardsmen were sent into parts of Mississippi and Alabama to prevent theft.
Survivors managed as best they could, sleeping in automobiles or gutted buildings, drinking warm beer when water was not available. Refugee centers were packed, with victims eating in emergency kitchens. The Red Cross and Salvation Army provided some relief, and the Federal Government sent in 800,000 pounds of food.
Camille was not yet exhausted, however, The hurricane poured up to ten inches of rain on the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia, leaving 62 dead and 110 missing from flash floods. Massies Mill, Va., was destroyed by the rampaging Tye River. "The excessive rainfall took us completely by surprise," said one U.S. meteorologist. Surprise also added to the toll on the Gulf Coast, where it had been thought that Camille was headed for Florida. So, however, did overconfidence in the face of the storm. "Most of these people have been through hurricanes before, and we had no reason to expect that this one would be so bad," said Pass Christian Mayor J. J. Wittmann.
Spoil the View. Warning or no, adequate seawalls, jetties and breakers had not been built along much of the Gulf Coast. The area depends on tourism, said George Metz of the Mississippi Division of Law Enforcement, and "they don't want to spoil the view by putting up a seawall." Some residents' apathy was shaken, however. Said a weary beach-house survivor: "From now on, when they say 'hurricane,' I'm heading north and I ain't gonna stop until I get to Memphis."