Man..talk about disappointment...I was expecting this thread to be about an epic battle...kinda like Godzilla vs Mothra....
Anyway...
The windfield was spread out over a much larger area than Camille, as was the storm surge. Just look at the damage in Mobile...the Battleship has an eight degree list to dockside...that takes some power folks. Also, the Gulf Coast is built up tons more, so there were alot more structures to involve.
Now...this is a theory of mine...the barrier islands have been eroded quite substantially since Camille hit. The offshore area has become much more shallow (probably due to sediment from the barrier islands eroding). Also, the beachfront areas in many locations that were devistated by Camille were actually lower than before (they didn't build the sand/soil levels back up to compensate for the material eroded from Camille's surge), and areas all along the Gulf that were not affected by Camille had a higher land level between them and the Gulf before Camille, but the erosion left the area from the dunes back lower. Would this combination not allow, or even enhance (as the case of the shallower offshore areas) the tidal surge, both in height and intensity when it came ashore, thus allowing for more damage? For those of you not familiar with the area, there are (or were) places that you could wade out more than a mile on the sand, because of the sediment buildup over the years.
