Eliminating the Negative

On February 26, 1972, an earthen dam across Buffalo Creek in Logan County, West Virginia, gave way under heavy rains. The dam had been built over the years from unstable coal mine spoil. A water impoundment 50 feet deep and nearly one-half mile long cascaded through Buffalo Creek hollow. More than 75 people died. Ten minutes after the flood passed, 5 thousand survivors were homeless.