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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I and my brother-in-law were caught in the storm
driving from Scottsville on the James River to Rockfish Gap (Afton Mountain) on
our way to pick up some freight at the Smith trucking terminal in
Verona. I have never been so frightened in my life. Remember--no one
predicted this or even knew it was coming. We thought it was just a bad
line of thunderstorms. I have never before or since seen rain falling so
hard that there was 4-6" of water in the roadway at the crest of hills!
Kudzu was sloughing off the banks in huge rafts. When we crested Afton
Mountain the view was eerie. The air being pushed up the mountain from the
valley side was perfectly clear with a ceiling several thousand feet up.
At the mountain crest the water vapor condensed out to form a wall of white that
filled the sky to the east with crazy roiling shapes. It was like
something you see now in special effects in movies about world-ending natural
disasters. Of course, the world did end for several hundred people that
night in Virginia. We did make it to Verona and back across the mountain
to Charlottesville. After we got into Charlottesville the state
police closed every road leading out of the city and we had to spend the
night at the Monticello Hotel. The next morning we were able to
get out of town, but every time we turned south to try to cross the James River
roads were blocked by flooding creeks. Finally, we made a mad dash for
Richmond and managed to beat the floodwaters before all the bridges in Richmond
were closed and then drove back west to Farmville. I don't think Farmville
had gotten a drop of rain!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I know there is no railroad-related info here, but
just had to tell what it was like to be in the middle of this monster. For
those who think that the superlatives that are bandied about concerning this
storm are just tall tales (most rain in three hours in world history, for
example), I can assure you that they are not.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sam Putney</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org">NW
Mailing List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org">nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, August 20, 2009 9:16
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Midvale - August 19, 1969
A.D.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR><BR><BR>En route to Lynchburg on the <EM>Southern
Crescent,</EM> the trainman told</DIV>
<DIV>me he'd been on No. 47 the night of August 19. He said the
rain</DIV>
<DIV>was coming down so hard, it was conforming to the fluted sides</DIV>
<DIV>of the sleeping cars and looking from the rear of the train, the
rain</DIV>
<DIV>was coming off in streams..</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Some time later, he was on the northbound <EM>Crescent</EM> that
derailed</DIV>
<DIV>on a curve north of Shipman account overspeed. He survived
the</DIV>
<DIV>derailment, but afterward, he had a heart attack and died on site.</DIV>
<DIV>
Harry Bundy </DIV>
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