Looking back at Hurricane Camille, 50 years later

As the 50th anniversary of Hurricane Camille's devastating blow to Nelson County approaches, The News & Advance recounts the memories of t…

This list contains the identities of the 125 people who died in Nelson County on Aug. 19 and 20, 1969. Eight never were identified; 33 were ne…

There’s a line drawn in the history of Nelson County — what happened before Hurricane Camille and what came after.

Certain triggers bring the memories crashing back for Carl and Warren Raines. The thump of helicopter blades puts the brothers in the cemetery…

Retired Virginia State Police Trooper Ed Tinsley decided early in his career that history needs to be documented.

The task of identifying bodies recovered after the flood fell mainly to three local physicians, a pathologist from the state medical examiner’…

A storm that could drop upwards of 30 inches of rain in just eight hours — so heavy people had to cover their noses and mouths simply to breat…

The torrential rain that fell the night of Aug. 19, 1969, severed Nelson County from the rest of the world.

One of the things Beth Goodwin remembers most about Hurricane Camille was the lightning.

The heavy, wet thud of boulders crashing into each other and anything else in their path as they tumbled down the flood-swollen Davis Creek li…

These homes were located along U.S. 29, north of Lovingston along the northbound lane of the highway. 

A saxophone sits in a display case at Oakland — The Nelson County Museum of History.

Michael Gamble remembers the sound of the rain outside his childhood home on Virginia 56 the night of Aug. 19, 1969.

The booming noise Willis Cyrus heard that night was unfamiliar.

At a reunion for his infantry unit a few years ago, Vietnam veteran Barlow Delk recalled a soldier’s spouse saying the war must have been the …

The Roseland Rescue Squad had been in service for about a year before it was put to the test in a way that few rescue squads ever would experi…

Edward B. “Buzz” Thompson was afraid of water.

Jane Raup remembers in the months following Hurricane Camille’s deluge that swept away Nelson County homes and families, the adults didn’t rea…

On a sunny, spring afternoon on a bridge over the Piney River on Virginia 151 in May, birds chirp peacefully as vehicles drive by a cluster of…

The nightmare that descended upon Nelson County the night of Aug. 19, 1969 never was supposed to happen. Hurricanes don’t behave like that. Or…

It was 6 a.m. on Aug. 20 when Clay Peters, a western Virginia reporter known as a “stringer” in the news-gathering business, called United Pre…