Buffalo Creek Flood
37.796888888889 - 81.645916666667Koordinaten: 37 ° 47 ' 49 "N, 81 ° 38' 45 " W
The dam break of a tailings pond on Buffalo Creek in Logan County, West Virginia, USA, on February 26, 1972 caused up to 125 deaths.
The dam No. 3
About 5,000 people lived in the narrow, 20 -mile, Buffalo Creek Hollow said coal-rich valley.
The dam, one of several dams, owned by the Pittston Coal Company and was 32 meters high. It consisted of the typical overburden of a coal mine. This sludge is led to discontinuation in tanks thereby constantly grow. There was no drainage and no way to dissipate rising water. These pools are designed so that the water seeps slowly.
The disaster
Multi-day heavy rains had softened the dam No. 3. On the evening of February 25, the leaders saw a danger. Some downstream residents were warned, but the warning was not taken seriously because this occurred frequently. The first damage to the dam occurred, an attempt was made with a bulldozer to dig a drainage channel. On the morning of February 26 began at 7:45 clock the first water to flow out. Until then, no one had been seriously warned. At 7:59 clock the dam broke completely, probably at the point where it was a year ago already broken even without damage. The flood took some coal dumps with it.
The tidal wave
Approximately 432000-520000 m³ sludge water overthrew the Buffalo Creek Canyon down, met several places, including Saunders, and poured out after three hours and 27 km at the place Man in the Guyandotte River. The tidal wave was six to nine feet tall.
The number of deaths is given as 118, 123, 124, or 125 (plus 7 missing ). 1,000 people were injured, 500 houses completely destroyed, damaged in 1000, and 4,000 people were left homeless. The total loss was 50 to U.S. $ 65 million.
Injury
This flood is considered the greatest disaster in American history mine. She was shown as "Force Majeure", but actually based on human error and many mistakes and omissions. In the subsequent court proceedings, the claimants were on average - after deduction of court costs - $ 13,000 awarded. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers received $ 9.5 million for cleanup.