Survivors Remember Camille
posted 04/18/09
6:31 pm
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Nelson County, VA -
It was 40 years ago that Hurricane Camille hit Virginia and killed more than a hundred people in Nelson County alone. Saturday two area brothers told their stories of survival and loss. The talk was part of a series of events to mark the storm's anniversary.
Even forty years later, it's not easy for Carl and Warren Raines to talk about Hurricane Camille. The storm and its floodwaters claimed their parents, two sisters and a brother.
Warren Raines, Survivor - "It was so unbelievable that to me, I thought it was actually the end of the world. It was such a tremendous storm."
The two were just teenagers when Camille dumped almost 30 inches of rain in the Massies Mill area of Nelson County, where they lived.
Carl Raines, Survivor - "Saw cows washing down the road, cars washing by, collapsing stores and houses. Things I won't forget."
Neither will they forget how they spent the night struggling with Mother Nature.
Carl Raines - "With the lightning as fierce as it was, it was almost like a strobe light."
Warren Raines - "We both ended up in trees and spent the night in trees. I actually was holding on to a tree that had fallen."
Carl Raines - "The water was at least 8 feet deep under the tree that I was in."
The storm and its floodwaters have had a lasting impact on the Nelson County community. There's even a room at the Oakland museum dedicated to Camille to make sure people never forget.
Warren Raines - "A lot of people that have moved into the community that don't realize what happened here back in 1969."
And that's one reason the brothers are speaking out about what they and so many other survivors went through.
The Oakland Nelson County Museum of History is hosting monthly events leading up to the August anniversary of Camille. A big remembrance ceremony is scheduled for August 20 at Nelson County High School.
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