Hurricane Camille was a powerful, deadly and destructive Category 5 major hurricane which became the second most intense tropical cyclone on record to strike the United States and is one of just four Category 5 hurricanes to make landfall in the U.S.

The Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale (SSHWS) classifies hurricanes—which in the Western Hemisphere are tropical cyclones that exceed the intensities of tropical depressions and tropical storms—into five categories distinguished by the intensities of their sustained winds. This measuring system was formerly known as the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale, or SSHS.