The Great Molasses Flood, also known as the Boston Molasses Disaster, was a disaster that occurred on January 15, 1919, in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.
A large storage tank filled with 2.3 million US gallons weighing approximately 13,000 short tons of molasses burst, and the resulting wave of molasses rushed through the streets at an estimated 35 mph, killing 21 and injuring 150. The event entered local folklore and residents claimed for decades afterwards that the area still smelled of molasses on hot summer days.
A blurb from the book [Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919] states: "Around noon on January 15, 1919, a group of firefighters were playing cards in Boston’s North End when they heard a tremendous crash. It was like roaring surf, one of them said later. Like a runaway two-horse team smashing through a fence, said another. A third firefighter jumped up from his chair to look out a window—“Oh my God!” he shouted to the other men, “Run!” A 50-foot-tall steel tank filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses had just collapsed on Boston’s waterfront, disgorging its contents as a 15-foot-high wave of molasses that at its outset traveled at 35 miles an hour. It demolished wooden homes, even the brick fire station. The number of dead wasn’t known for days. It would be years before a landmark court battle determined who was responsible for the disaster."
Another molasses spill happened in September 2013 where 1,400 tons of molasses spilled into Honolulu Harbor. Divers in the harbor area reported that all sea life in the area were killed by the molasses, which instantly sank to the bottom of the harbor and caused widespread deoxygenation. Members of various coral species were injured or killed, and more than 26,000 fish and members of other marine species suffocated and died.
No comments:
Post a Comment