How much do you know about the Great Molasses Flood?
Many of the dead were so glazed over in molasses, they were hard to recognise.
The Great Molasses Flood, also known as the Boston Molasses Disaster or the Great Boston Molasses Flood, occurred on January 15, 1919 in Boston, Massachusetts.
According to a report on Wikipedia, A large molasses storage tank burst and a wave of molasses rushed through the streets at an estimated 56 km/h, killing 21 and injuring 150.
The event entered local folklore and for decades afterwards residents claimed that on hot summer days the area still smelled of molasses.
Modern downtown Boston with molasses flood area circled
At about 12.30 pm a tank 15m tall and 27m in diameter, and containing as much as 8,700 m3 of molasses collapsed. Witnesses variously reported that as it collapsed they felt the ground shake and heard a roar, a long rumble similar to the passing of an elevated train, a tremendous crashing, a deep growling, or “a thunderclap-like bang”, and as the rivets shot out of the tank, a machine gun-like sound.
The collapse unleashed a wave of molasses 8 m high at its peak, with sufficient force to damage the girders of the adjacent Boston Elevated Railway’s Atlantic Avenue structure and tip a railroad car momentarily off the tracks. Author Stephen Puleo describes how nearby buildings were swept off their foundations and crushed. Several blocks were flooded to a depth of from 60 to 90 cm. Puleo quotes a Boston Post report:
“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.“
The Boston Globe reported that people “were picked up by a rush of air and hurled many feet.” Others had debris hurled at them from the rush of sweet-smelling air. A truck was picked up and hurled into Boston Harbor. About 150 people were injured; 21 people and several horses were killed. Some were crushed and drowned by the molasses. The wounded included people, horses, and dogs; coughing fits became one of the most common ailments after the initial blast. The injured were so numerous that doctors and surgeons set up a makeshift hospital in a nearby building. Rescuers found it difficult to make their way through the syrup to help the victims. Four days elapsed before they stopped searching for victims; many of the dead were so glazed over in molasses, they were hard to recognise.”
** Unless otherwise indicated, all information and photos taken from Wikipedia.
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