Tye River - History

History

Much of the upper course of the Tye River was bordered by the Virginia Blue Ridge Railway, a short line railroad built in 1915. Originally, the area was heavily forested with chestnut trees, which were harvested for lumber transported by the railroad. However, these were largely decimated by chestnut blight in the 1920s. Later, the railroad was used to transport several types of minerals mined nearby in small quantities, but that activity ended by 1970. Passenger train service had ended in 1939, although State Route 56 was built nearby. In the 1980s, the tracks were abandoned.

On the night of August 20, 1969, the headwaters of the Tye River were near ground zero during one of the worst natural disasters in Virginia history. A few days earlier, Hurricane Camille had come ashore on the Gulf Coast near the mouth of the Mississippi River as a Category 5 storm, one of only three to strike the US mainland during the 20th century. The hurricane flattened nearly everything along the coast of Mississippi, and caused additional flooding and deaths inland. The storm had 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 northward 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 the remnants of the hurricane reached the area centered on Nelson County, the storm unexpectedly stalled on the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Mostly within only a three-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. Across Nelson County, 133 bridges were washed out, while some entire communities were under water. The major flooding that occurred downstream cut off all communications between Richmond and the Shenandoah Valley. Waynesboro on the South River saw 8 feet (2.4 m) of water downtown, and Buena Vista on the Maury River had more than 5 feet (1.5 m).

Every bridge across the Tye River was severed, including the major highway bridge for U.S. Route 29 at the Amherst County line and the Southern Railway's main line bridge near Norwood. Just below the latter crossing, the waters of the Tye River flowed into the James River. Joined by massive flooding from other tributaries, the James crested in Richmond at 28.6 feet (8.7 m) at the City Locks, swamping downtown areas and a substantial portion of South Richmond, which had formerly been the separate city of Manchester.

In Nelson County, the bodies of some people were never found; other washed as much as 25 miles (40 km) downstream along the creeks and rivers. The entire county was virtually cut off, with many roads and virtually all bridges, telephone and electric service interrupted. Total damage in the state amounted to $140.8 million (1969 USD, $747 million 2005 USD).