In the flash flooding and mudslides, entire communities were virtually wiped out, killing hundreds of Virginians, some of whose bodies were never found.

In Massies Mill, one of the hardest hit communities in the Camille disaster, the Sierra Club erected a memorial in a small park which is dedicated to those who lost their lives and families in 1969.

Much of the upper course of the Tye River was bordered by the Virginia Blue Ridge Railway, a short line railroad built in 1915.

[6] 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.

[7] 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.

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.

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.

[8][9][10][11] The Tye River is home to dozens of species of fish and other aquatic life, including American eels, small and largemouth bass, and native mussels.

[12] According to an official of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, "Removing the dam will increase the passage possibilities, and hopefully the populations of all these species.