1972 Buffalo Creek flood
At approximately 8:00 A.M. coal slurry impoundment number 3, built on a hillside in Logan County, West Virginia by the Pittston Coal Company, gave way. The flood obliterated the two impoundments below it and released roughly 500 million litres of black waste water, along with millions of cubic yards of coal slurry, into 16 mining communities down Buffalo Creek Hollow. The town of Saunders was levelled completely.
- Date
- 1972-02-26
- Deaths (Wikipedia list, low end where it gives a range)
- 125
- What the pin marks
- The failed coal slurry impoundment on Buffalo Creek, as the cited page positions it.
- Where the position is published
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Creek_flood
Category: Disasters & Incidents
Tags: west virginia, coal slurry, impoundment
Coordinates: 37.79722, -81.66389
Part of Dam failures that killed 100 or more people since 1900
More in Dam failures that killed 100 or more people since 1900
- 1972 Canyon Lake Dam failure in the Black Hills flood
- 1928 St. Francis Dam failure
- 1959 Vega de Tera dam failure
- 1959 Malpasset Dam failure
- 1935 Sella Zerbino dam failure at Molare
- 1923 Gleno Dam failure
- 1985 Val di Stava dam collapse
- 1963 Vajont Dam disaster
- 2019 Brumadinho dam disaster
- 1965 El Cobre tailings dam failure
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