Hurricane intensity is ranked on a scale from 1 to 5, with Category 5 being the strongest. Only three hurricanes in the last century have made landfall in the U.S. as Category 5's, with sustained winds above 155 mph. One of those was Hurricane Camille, which came ashore in Mississippi on August 17, 1969.

Camille's powerful winds estimated at 185 mph pushed water towards shore, briefly raising sea level more than 20 feet along parts of the Mississippi coast. This storm surge carried ships a mile inland, and at Pass Christian leveled an apartment complex on the beach. Though Camille's winds weakened as it moved inland, the storm still had plenty of moisture, dumping torrential rains - as much as two feet in places - on West Virginia and Virginia. The devastating flooding led to the worst natural disaster in Virginia history, with more than 100 bridges in the state destroyed or damaged and 200 miles of roads washed away.

Overall, Camille was responsible for about 250 deaths and 1.5 billion dollars in damage in the United States, making it, at that time, the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.