Hurricane Camille

Virginia doesn't often feel too much effect from hurricanes, especially in the mountains of far western Virginia. Usually a some strong winds and a hard rain, but generally nothing too scary. But Camille was truly devastating, especially in rural Nelson County. I'm often surprised at how many people from Virginia don't know what Hurricane Camille did to Nelson. 40 inches of rain came down in eight hours! The National Weather Bureau called this "the probable maximum rainfall which meteorologists compute to be theoretically possible."

On the devastating night of August 19-20, 1969 when remnants of Camille dumped over 27 inches of rain on Nelson County in Virginia in less than five hours, caused dozens of landslides that killed at least 125 people. Camille formed in the Gulf of Mexico and hit Mississippi as a Category 5 storm. The storm caused more than 256 deaths nationwide, and is considered one of the most intense hurricanes to hit the US based on its pressure, which was measured at 900 millibars. (The more intense a hurricane is, the lower its pressure.)

Folks on the Gulf coast of Mississippi remember many people laughing at the storm, and even holding hurricane parties on the beach. Members of the National Guard at the time report that the coast was hit by 200 mph winds. Every person that was involved with such beach parties were killed and the beer joints completely wiped off the map. Bodies were found literally mashed into fences, and a Volkswagen ended up in the top of an oak tree along the beach line, that remained there for years. Ships were moved inland for miles.

Here is a shot from my hometown of Waynesboro, Virginia, just across the Blue Ridge Mountains from Nelson County.