Besides sending shrapnel whizzing through the air, the explosion flattened people, horses and buildings with a huge shockwave. As some tried to get to their feet, the sudden vacuum where the tank once was created a reverse shockwave, sucking air in and knocking people, animals and vehicles around once more, and shaking homes off their foundations. That was just the first few seconds. The real terror was about to begin.
The tank had been filled to near capacity, and 2.3 million gallons of thick, heavy, odorous molasses formed a sticky tsunami that started at 25 or 30 feet high and coursed through the streets at 35 mph...
When it was over, more than a score had died, and seven or eight times that number suffered injuries. The mess took months to clean up, and the legal issues even longer."
So the speed of molasses in January is 35 mph........................
I guess it could have been worse.
I remember my grandmother telling me that you could smell molasses for years later.
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Also Boston’s slowest news day.
One irony is that this flood gave rise to the express, “slower than molasses in January.” Yet the molasses were reported to be flowing at 25 to 35 mph, which is pretty fast.
First documented deaths due to “global warming”, the tank was filled on a cold winter’s day then came apart due to a warm day in January.
I learned all about this on “Drunk History”
Yet the five-story storage facility was never properly tested - by filling it with water - because a shipload of molasses was due only days after the completion of the tank in December 1915.
Interesting video at the site. For years, the tank would leak molasses when filled and it would groan whenever it was filled, reflecting substandard construction. A sudden warm spell in January likely pressurized the contents enough to rupture the tank.
2.3 m gal?????????
that’s a hole $h!tPota stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jus’ Plain Dick@Planet WTF!
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Death by suffocation. I can sense the panic somebody must feel as they are enveloped in Molasses.
Area must have had an infestation of Cockroaches for years afterwards.
Very interesting!
That’s a whole lot of bottles of bbq sauce.
OK - had to go re-learn why and how molasses is made.
Oooh, I think this was an episode on the awesome “Seconds from Disaster”!
My Grandfather used to tell this story.
If I had my druthers, I would prefer to die in London’s Great Beer Flood of 1814:
http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/The-London-Beer-Flood-of-1814/
Kinda reminds me of a great WC Fields line...his wife is hassling him about his drinking and says "Someday you'll *drown* in a vat of whiskey" and he responds (under his breath) "Drown in a vat of whiskey? Death where is thy sting?"
My wife is a dietitian. I just told her about this. Her comment? “Too much food can kill.”
