Few people who saw the 50-foot tidal wave lived to tell, but those that did never forgot it. This nonfiction book reads like a suspense novel, revealing previously untold details of Hurricane Audrey at a gale-force pace, as seen through the eyes of the survivors in a combination of suspense, family drama, and the struggle for life over death. In the midnight hours of June 27, 1957, the hurricane exploded in intensity and speed, slamming into the sleeping Gulf Coast twelve hours ahead of its predicted landfall. Residents were poised to evacuate, but many woke to find water already inside their homes. The early arrival of this category-4 storm resulted in a massive death toll of more than 525 people—almost 200 of them children. Indeed, the events surrounding Hurricane Audrey were so horrific that for over 30 years most of the survivors found it too painful to speak of their ordeal. . . until now.