We’ve told the story of a couple of notable floods on our podcast, namely the Johnstown flood and more recently the Christmas flood in Saltville, Virginia. But the most well-known Appalachian flood, studied in law and engineering schools, happened 45 years ago today in Logan County, West Virginia, when a coal waste dam collapsed on the Middle Fork of Buffalo Creek, allowing 132 million gallons of polluted water to race downstream in a huge black wave of death and destruction. The waters destroyed parts of 17 communities downstream.

The Governor of West Virginia set up an Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry afterwards, which found that the owner of the dam, the Pittston Coal Company, had shown “flagrant disregard for the safety of residents of Buffalo Creek and other persons who live near coal-refuse impoundments.” A lawsuit was filed by survivors of the flood which was settled in 1974 for $13.5 million, or $13,000 for each plaintiff after legal fees. West Virginia also filed suit, for $100 million, for damage to state property. That suit settled in 1977 for $1 million.

The flood led to new laws regulating dam construction in the United States so as to avoid any future disasters.

(Picture in the Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8858716)