Massies Mill, Virginia
Massies Mill is an unincorporated community in Nelson County, Virginia, United States. It is located on State Route 56 adjacent to the headwaters of the Tye River. In August 1969, tiny Massies Mill, then a village of forty homes [1], had the sad distinction of being at or very close to ground zero during of one of the worst natural disasters to strike the Commonwealth of Virginia in the 20th century.
1969 Tropical Storm Camille Disaster
On the night of August 20, 1969, Massies Mill was one of the hardest hit communities when the remnants of Hurricane Camille arrived. The hurricane had come ashore on the Gulf Coast near the mouth of the Mississippi River as a Category 5 storm, one of only 3 to strike the US mainland during the 20th century. The hurricane flattened nearly everything along the coast of the U.S. state of Mississippi, and caused additional flooding and deaths inland. The storm has lost strength as it crossed hundreds of miles of land, and was downgraded by the National Weather Service to Tropical Storm status as it moved northwardly along the eastern side of the Appalachian Mountains and into Virginia. It still carried incredible amounts of moisture and contained sufficient strength and low pressure to pull in additional moisture.
As it reached the area centered on Nelson County, a hilly, rural county with a population of around 15,000, the storm unexpectedly stalled on the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Mostly within only a 3 hour period, it dumped a record quantity of 27 inches (690 mm) of rain. The rainfall was so heavy there were reports of birds drowning in trees and of survivors who had to cup their hands around mouth and nose in order to breathe through such a deluge.
As many people slept unaware, the ensuing flash floods and mudslides killed 153 people, 22 in Massies Mill alone.[2] Across Nelson County, 133 bridges were washed out, while some entire communities were under water.[3] The major flooding that occurred downstream cut off all communications between Richmond and the Shenandoah Valley. Waynesboro on the South River saw eight feet of water downtown, and Buena Vista had more than five feet. Total damage in the state amounted to $140.8 million (1969 USD, $747 million 2005 USD).[4] [5][6][7]
Additional reading
- Category 5: The Story of Camille, Lessons Unlearned from America's Most Violent Hurricane By Ernest Zebrowski, Judith A. Howard
Published by University of Michigan Press, 2005 ISBN 0472115251
References
- ^ Category 5: The Story of Camille, Lessons Unlearned from America's Most Violent Hurricane By Ernest Zebrowski, Judith A. Howard Published by University of Michigan Press, 2005 ISBN 0472115251
- ^ http://hurricanewatch.mgnetwork.com/index.cfm?SiteID=TFP&PackageID=9&fuseaction=article.main&ArticleID=66&GroupID=17
- ^ United States Department of Commerce (1969). "Hurricane Camille August 14-22, 1969" (PDF). Environmental Science Services Administration. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
- ^ United States Department of Commerce (1969). "Hurricane Camille August 14-22, 1969" (PDF). Environmental Science Services Administration. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
- ^ "The Inflation Calculator". Retrieved 2006-06-18.)
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
mrwwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Virginia's Weather History". "Virginia Dept. of Emergency Management. Retrieved 2006-05-28.
Municipalities and communities of Nelson County, Virginia, United States | ||
|---|---|---|
| CDPs |  | |
| Other communities |
| |
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |