Cooperative Living August 2019 - 15

Phillip Payne, Contributing Writer
A Lovingston attorney and native of Nelson County,
he is a Central Virginia Electric Cooperative member
and its General Counsel.
n the evening of Aug. 19, 1969,
I was at football practice at
Nelson County High School.
Black clouds, like huge tumbleweeds,
began billowing and roiling from the
southwest as we did our warm-ups. The
coach called the practice early, and
before we were out of the locker room,
the rain was falling in torrents.
Hurricane Camille came ashore in
Mississippi late on Aug. 17, 1969, as a
devastating Category 5 hurricane. Her
force seemingly spent, the storm
became a rain squall that moved north
before turning east in Kentucky. At
about 9 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 19, Camille
settled over Nelson County. So much
rain fell that night that there is no
accurate record, just evidence that the
deluge exceeded 36 inches at its worst.
Swaths of soil, trees and boulders slid
off the mountainsides; raging rivers
and creeks became instruments of
destruction. For a while, the James River
O
Hurricane
Camille
flowed backwards at its confluence with
the Tye River at Norwood.
My family was fortunate; we were on
high ground and slightly south of the
main path of the downpour. I went to
bed that night to the drum of the
pounding rain and slept until morning.
Our first inkling of the disaster came
when my father's bookkeeper called
Wednesday morning, telling him that
she could not get out of her driveway
due to logs and rocks in her yard and a
house in the middle of U.S. 29. When
my father left to investigate the
bookkeeper's story, I went with him.
To our amazement travel in the
center of Lovingston was blocked by
rocks, mud and pushed-around cars,
although the way to the new U.S. 29
Bypass was open. But at the Gap, just
north of Lovingston, the road was
blocked by a landslide that had, indeed,
carried a house into the middle of the road.
There was no vehicular passage here, so we
struck out on foot.
Past the Gap one lane of U.S. 29 had
dammed a huge lake. Houses in this
expanse appeared to be missing, but we
had no word, yet, that people had been
washed away. Farther along, a slide had
jammed into a creek at a right angle,
pushing the creek against and through
the southbound lane of U.S. 29.
At Thompson's Trailer Court, the
creek had knocked the trailers around like
Matchbox toys. When we reached the road,
which enters the narrow valley cradling
Davis Creek, my father learned that at
least 45 people who lived along the creek
were missing. That number would prove
too low. Later we would learn that
destruction and loss of life had occurred
across a broad part of the county.
Telephone and radio communications
were almost non-existent. Travel into
and within the county was blocked at
almost every point. A major disaster
had occurred and almost no one knew
Top inset: Damage left in the path of Camille from Davis Creek flooding at U.S. 29
in Nelson County. Bottom inset: This Nelson County home has been turned on its
side by the flood forces. Located on Rt. 655 at Roseland. Main image: Just off Rt.
626 near the Rockfish River, this beautiful farmhouse suffered many damages from
the hurricane. Located near Howardsville in Nelson County.
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Cooperative Living August 2019

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