The town of Caminadaville was wiped out by a Category 2 Hurricane on October 1, 1893.
Nearly 2,000 people
died in this storm making it the fourth greatest hurricane disaster in
American History (Galveston is #1, Katrina #3). Many of the deaths were near Grand Isle at
the Hotel Kranz in the thriving fishing village of Caminadaville. Half of the 1,500 in Caminadaville were killed outright. Caminadaville is no more. A way of life disappeared. We wonder if this is to be the fate of New Orleans as well.
The story of Chenière Caminada has been well chronicled:
1893 was a particularly bad year for hurricanes (not just 2005) as the South Carolina "Sea Islands" storm at the end of August killed 1000-2000 people just two months before the Chenière Caminanda disaster. Today's Hilton Head resort is on one of these "Sea Islands."
Check the ACE chart for 1893.Disasters in the United States
1918 Spanish Flu - 675,000 US deaths (40 million worldwide)
1861 Civil War - 620,000 deaths
AIDS since 1981 - 550,000 US deaths
1941 WW II - 318,274 US deaths
1914 WW I - 116,708 US deaths
1963 Vietnam War - 58,159 US deaths
1950 Korean War - 33,686 US deaths
1900 - Galveston Hurricane 8,000 deaths
2003 Iraq & Afghanistan Wars - 5,500 US deaths
1838 - Trail of Tears 4,000 deaths
1906 SF Earthquake - 3,000 deaths
2001 911 Terrorist Attack - 2,976 deaths
1889 South Fork Dam, Johnston PA - 2,200 deaths
and none of these comes close to the 2,000,000 plus
American deaths since 1908, now occurring at the
rate of 35,000 per year due to automobile accidents
at least half of which are related to impairment due to alcohol.