The Devastation of Hurricane Camille, Schuyler Dam Incident, August 1969, Nelson County, VA

Abstract Only - Prior to 1969, hurricane flooding was thought of as a problem restricted to coastal areas. Hurricane Camille in August of that year changed that thought process. Over a matter of hours, this massive storm, which has been defined by meteorologists as at or near the Probable Maximum Precipitation in some areas, dumped upwards of 30 inches of rain in central Virginia along the Blue Ridge Mountains, with some of the hardest hit areas in Nelson County.
Multiple dam failures and incidents occurred as a result of Hurricane Camille. One of the lesser known incidents took place at the Schuyler Dam along the Rockfish River in the southeast corner of Nelson County. This approximately 20-foot tall concrete gravity structure was primarily used to generate hydroelectric power. During Camille, river discharges along portions of the Rockfish River, a relatively small river in the larger James River watershed, exceeded 70,000 cfs. This level of flooding was beyond unprecedented, washing out the majority of bridges and roads in Nelson County and surrounding areas. The massive volume of water going over and around the dam caused significant damage to the structure, including destruction of the hydroelectric powerhouse, severe erosion of the rock abutments, and washing out of the bridge immediately downstream of the dam. However, the dam itself held.
While several lessons can be learned from the Schuyler dam incident, the fascinating components of this story are the unique hydrologic conditions induced by Hurricane Camille in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, the destruction it caused (over 150 deaths and well over $100 million in damages in 1969 dollars), and the harrowing stories of the many left in its wake.