I remember Camille in Virginia. The remnants stalled out over Virginia and in one part of Nelson County dropped up to 27 inches of rain in a few hours. People who were outside said they had to cup their hands over their nose to breathe.
Along Davis Creek in a deep hollow, soil and trees literally peeled off the bedrock, and at one point the shallow creek was 50 feet deep with water, trees, dirt houses, and other debris. Only three of 35 houses along the creek were not destroyed. The Tye River was a 12-foot wall of water through Massies Mill with no warning at all. More than 100 people died, including, I think, nearly 20 from one family. Some bodies were never found and at least one was discovered 25 miles downriver.
I grew up in Amherst County, not far south of where Camille unloaded, and I know those areas well (Glasgow, Massie’s Mill, Davis Creek). I was just shy of three years old, so I don’t remember any of it, although my mom’s told me that there were helicopters back and forth over our hours for two days hauling people to the nearby junior high, being used as an aid station.
The Tye and Piney never returned to their old banks after that storm. They cut new courses, and to this day, they’re both much more floodprone than they were prior to 1969.
}:-)4