THE ROAD BACK

[Applause] born of the sea she turned like a woman scorned and tortured the land before her mounting Fury wood and stone and steel reached the breaking point and [Music] fell she screamed and ripped and flooded and killed they called her Camille and she left her Mark upon all she touched [Applause] they used to call it America's Riviera and they bragged proudly it was the world's longest man-made Beach but to the first rescue workers on the scene it looked more like the world's longest trash pile camil's incredibly destructive 200 mph winds and 30t Tides did their work well slamming into the Mississippi Alabama and Louisiana coasts before the storm moved on to create more tragedy as it dumped tons of water on far off Virginia heaviest blows however were concentrated along the crescent-shaped coastal area of Mississippi peaceful communities with Pleasant names names like Waveland Pas Christian Gulfport beloy all were virtually wiped off the map transportation too suffered heavily ships large and small caught too close to shore found themselves beached high above the natural Shoreline huge oil barges were blown ashore like this victim blocking apart of Route 90 their tracks uprooted their equipment scattered railroads were unable to operate for days only partially for weeks in the first chaotic hours after the storm had passed it quickly became obvious that relief fast relief in huge amounts and of literally every kind imaginable would be needed to prevent disaster from becoming a catastrophe [Music] Truck transport obviously was going to have to carry the major share of the load some relief material could be flown in but it would still have to be transported from airports to where it was so badly needed roads in the area had suffered heavily too but trucks with their flexibility to move where bulldozers had filled in holes or to detour around impassible sections began to roll within hours of the all clear signal trucks began to converge upon the Gulf Coast Area their trailers filled with donated and often hurriedly packed caros of medicine food water clothing and other desperately needed supplies they were everywhere dump trucks tractor trailers tank trucks more than a thousand of them some from as far away as California the job of coordinating relief transport into the disaster area was turned over to the Mississippi Trucking Association by Governor John Bill Williams who had set up a temporary state headquarters near Hangar 69 at gulport airport damaged but still available for service Hangar 69 became the Emergency Operations Distribution Center the Mississippi Public Service Commission eliminated delays to relief trucks by granting immediate certification to all vehicles that normally don't have authority to operate in Mississippi [Music] restrictions on types of vehicles legally permitted to use the state's highways were temporarily relaxed and the allout effort of the trucking industry to supply the Gulf Coast remained in high gear [Music] with virtually every Community facility wiped out or barely able to operate some trucks were pressed into Grim service for Camille was a killer the tragic nature of the situation was reflected everywhere as DW Snider Vice chairman of the Mississippi Public Service Commission indicated at One Gulfport staging area the Mississippi Trucking industry has G A Terri ific job here on the Mississippi G Coast the last 8 or 10 days for the people here who's been in need of so many different things if it had not been for the trucking industry with their coordination with the various government agencies we certainly would not have been along this far as we are here today they've even used their refrigerator trucks such as these for temporary morg they've used their van trucks they've used their train uh tank trucks to bring in water for the people to drink they brought in gasoline fuel to operate the vehicles here they have a dump back over here they supplying gasoline for the various cars police law enforcement and so forth to use while they here they're sending in dump trucks to be used in the cleanup of this area and if if it had not been for the trucking industry we couldn't have gone along like we're doing today lnn railroad right over here is completely out of operation and when they bring in these supplies and this equipment on these big transport train planes it has to be distributed out to the people that's what the Mississippi Trucking industry has done and not only the Mississippi Trucking industry at American Trucking industry from outside the state of Mississippi they have been to r as these scenes were filmed in Mississippi's Gulf Coast Area an equally devastated area hundreds of miles away was reeling from The Vicious mauling it had received from Camille more than 100 residents of Virginia's Nelson County lost their lives and the state suffered countless millions of dollars in damage as the rewolen James River swept over its banks [Music] with other Transportation knocked out trucks again were called upon to handle the enormous relief job as Camille's Fury passed finally into the Atlantic no complete tally of the tons of medicine food clothing fuel water and other vital supplies May ever be possible in the Mississippi or Virginia flood areas in the those areas the trucking industry was itself a victim of the storm with a loss of well over $2 million sustained in terminal facilities and Equipment yet within a few days it had participated in a mighty effort which delivered small mountains of dry Freight and nearly a qu million gallons of liquid products to the Gulf Coast alone standing in the rubble of the buav Vista Motel mayor Daniel G of luuy spoke movingly of the storm's Fury and the speed with which the trucking industry went into action most certainly the peoples of buuy in the Gulf Coast Area have been through a very tragic disaster we can't call this a Hurrican for most certainly it came in with the Velocity in the fury of a tornado that was about 60 Mi wide we had very little warning really of this type of disaster but with the warning that we had there many peoples who deserve a great deal of credit for the assistance that they were able to give us before the storm got here as a precautionary measure and then to help as best they could During the period of time that we were drastically trying to save lives and protect properties of those people who did offer a great deal of service I should say would include the ndta including the military KLA air for Force Base the naval construction Battalion at Gort and the trucking associations of the states of Mississippi and Alabama in Louisiana and many other areas at the time of the last minute warnings that we might have such a tragic thing bestest upon us here along the coast our local Trucking Association members also part of the ND did what they could along with the National Guard to help to evacuate many of our citizens from lowline areas we were able to save some equipment and some Furnishings but little did we know that we would have the high waters and the tremendous winds that came after that and many of these Goods that were save were lost but thank goodness that through the efforts of many of these truckers and through the national Guardsman and the civil defense officials there were many many citizens and lives saved most certainly for instance from Baton Rouge area we had 45 trucks in one Convoy that came down with foods and materials a day after of this huran the citizens of the state of Mississippi and the truckers Association responded likewise at a time when water was precious food was precious and clothing was precious and without question their efforts helped to save and avoid further tragedy and from his temp AR Command Post in gulport Governor John Bell Williams expressed the state's official thanks the trucking industry has been a vital and integral part of the operations following Hurricane Camille every single Truck Line that was called upon for Help by the Mississippi Public Service Commission or by my office responded promptly to our needs as soon as all as the main arteries to the Mississippi Gulf Coast had been cleared for traffic hundreds upon hundreds of trucks were on their way to help the suffering people with goods and food and other items no truck entering Mississippi was delayed in its mission for lack of proper certification the Public Service Commission of Mississippi cleared immediately upon notification every truck that did not hold a certificate the trucking industry demonstrated its ability to respond to these emergencies I congratulate the industry and I express my appreciation on behalf of the people of my state to the trucking industry for filling this public need in such a magnificent manner it will take the Gulf Coast and Virginia areas years to fully recover from what is now called one of the worst dorms of this Century the trucking industry is already at work to bring that day closer [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] w e for