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September 15, 2009
They don't make urban disasters like they used to...
occurred on January 15, 1919, in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts in the United States. A large molasses storage tank burst, The collapse unleashed an immense wave of molasses between 8 and 15 ft high, moving at 35 mph, and exerting a pressure of 2 ton/ft. The molasses wave was of sufficient force to break the girders of the adjacent Boston Elevated Railway's Atlantic Avenue structure and lift a train off the tracks. Nearby, buildings were swept off their foundations and crushed. Several blocks were flooded to a depth of 2 to 3 feet.Molasses, waist deep, covered the street and swirled and bubbled about the wreckage. Here and there struggled a form — whether it was animal or human being was impossible to tell. Only an upheaval, a thrashing about in the sticky mass, showed where any life was... Horses died like so many flies on sticky fly-paper. The more they struggled, the deeper in the mess they were ensnared. Human beings — men and women — suffered likewise.-- La Wik
Posted by Vanderleun at September 15, 2009 11:12 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.