Everything in its path Everything in its path is a book that describes the wreckage and aftermath of one of the most server floods to strike West Virginia. The flood struck Buffalo creek a small narrow town in the hollow of the Appalachians Mountains in the winter of 1972. Debris from hundreds of mine operations spills down the slope like ashes. Buffalo creek is one of those mountains hollow that some seventeen miles in length. Around five thousands residents lived along this hollow this small strip of land in 1972 all of whom had houses and lives were washed away by the horrific flood that stuck Buffalo creek. The town of Buffalo creek depends on the mines for their source of income and lively hood. When the flood struck all of the …show more content…
Analysis:
The effects of the Buffalo Creek were massive. Most of the homes were damaged and demolished. There was millions in property damage to be paid. Approximately 500 houses and 40 mobile homes were completely wiped away by the flood and about 950 houses and mobile homes were damaged. The whole area was like one big pool, the water washing the homes down shore. Property damage totaled to an estimate of $50 million. It was almost like one side of the houses of the creek were more safe, as the water rushed down stream it would wash away the houses on the right side of the creek as the creek curved to the left, it would then take the houses on the left side further down when the next curve was to the right. The cleaning up process of this disaster took a very long time, since there was so much debris from the homes and cars it made it a lot more tedious work. It can only be imagined how much this disaster effected the people of this community. Approximately 120 people died, among those were 3 babies, over 4,000 were to be homeless, and 7 people were to never be found. Not only did this flood affect people physically, but also mental, psychologically, and finically. Local schools had been opened up as a center for people with no homes, also people were put into mobile homes. What was not put into consideration was their former neighborhood. People that they have been living
The mill creek watershed is 166 square miles with 450,000 people. The main sources of water are rivers, aquifers, and rainwater. The major body of water is the Ohio River. The land around it is hilly.The Mill Creek lies at the heart, soul, and industrial center of Greater Cincinnati. This 28-mile stream begins in Liberty Township, travels through 34 communities, and flows into the Ohio River just west of downtown Cincinnati. The Mill Creek Watershed has withstood two centuries of urbanization and is poised for a comeback. The Mill Creek drew settlers over 200 years ago looking for rich, fertile farmland and water power to support industry, ultimately building Cincinnati into a prosperous industrial powerhouse.
The Johnstown flood of 1889 was a really bad time. People were roaming streets with no shoes or food. It was one of the worst floods of all time. The dam broke once before, but that was only the beginning of the terror in the city. Years later a big storm arrived.
(Erikson p. 25) The Buffalo Coal Company decided to stack this waste at the top of the mountains which after a while created a dam. This "sludge water" was dumped in nearby lakes which they stopped because this water would end up in the streams that lead to the town. They then disposed of the water behind the dam which held up to over 130 million gallons of waste. There was a non-stop rain plaguing this area throughout the whole month of February. This rain continued to fill this dam, and on February 26, 1972 that dam collapsed causing this valley to fill with slag water. Residents explained hearing explosions and it feeling like an earthquake as the flood began. In only a few hours most of Buffalo Creek had been washed away into the Guyandotte River. After most of the water left the scene could be described as something out of a war movie; wreckage, bodies lying everywhere. The Buffalo Creek government creates aid for survivors of this disaster by offering trailer homes and other relief processes. The book has a lot of witness accounts what it was like actually going through this. I found out that The Environmental Protection Agency was enacted in 1970 and by this time the Buffalo Mining Company had already been dumping their sludge and waste water
However, the dams were of faulty construction. Dam number one which caused the flooding was constructed of coarse mining refuse that Pittston had dumped into the Middle Fork of Buffalo Creek starting in 1968. This dam failed first on the heels of heavy rains. The water from Dam number three then took out dams number two and then number one. Dam number three had simply
The Buffalo Creek flood of West Virginia is believed to be the most devastating coal relate disaster in West Virginia history. The flood occurred in the Buffalo Creek area of Logan County on February 26, 1972 when three dams broke and released 132 million gallons of water and coal waste known by miners as “gob,” and is a thick sludge-like material. The gob contains many toxic chemicals and pollutants such as mercury and arsenic that are left behind from the coal mining process. The wastewater would lie in settling ponds and dams until it could be properly disposed of. The water that was left over from processing coal would be disposed of in two different ways. Some of the water would be pumped from the dam back to the “tipple”, otherwise
The Ellicott City flood was destructive because it was on a high gradient stream. The high gradient stream made it flood faster, and had low stream discharge. Discharge is cross section of stream channel. It was also capable of moving large particles, which is an example of deposition and erosion. In the experiment, the ‘Main Street Ellicott City’ stream was more affected than the Meandering Stream. The Main Street Ellicott City stream was flooded faster, and more houses and cars were destroyed compared to the Meandering
The American Red Cross team had 50 volunteers to help lead by Clara Barton. It was a major diester it overflowed all the dams and got into people’s house and destoryed their values. May 31st it was already flooding
Seeing that some neighboorhoods in the low land were effected even more than those on high land will help the city see which parts of the city to start evacuation procedures to also avoid so much commotion or traffic around town. Loise Rose talks about how she realized that this storm was different from any regular rainy day when she saw that Harvey did not discriminate did make perfect sense. Her explanation of where she was at at the George R. Brown where she saw all social classes and all types of race gave a perfect description of what Houston is. Many came together as one at the time of help, so it helped to show and prove even with all the controversy in politics that separate us in society. It was the last thing we had on our minds and we just cared and worried for one another. I believe that we should work together as a city or even a state and prepare for future emergency like this one.Build a charity that will helps us with situations like Harvey. Any charity that would take donations specifically for any losses of home or businesses that will be promising for the city and state. From other sources and talk going around seems like people cant seem to trust the red cross or any government help after
The Johnstown flood of 1889 is often remembered as the worst disaster that was caused by dam failure in America’s history. Over 2000 lives were lost, and about 17 million dollars in property damage was done to the town of Johnstown. Many of the leading industrialists of the 19th century were members of the club that owned the South Fork dam in 1889, drawing in nationwide attention. The relief effort was one of the first huge non-wartime disasters for the American Red Cross. Once again in the years 1936 and 1977 similar flooding would occur, ravaging the town of Johnstown, wreaking havoc on the lives of civilians.
The Johnstown Flood of 1889 was a terrible natural disaster. Sixty miles east of Pittsburgh in a valley near the Stony Creek, Alleghany, and Little Conemaugh rivers is where Johnstown is located. It all started on May 28, 1889 when a storm appeared over Nebraska and Kansas. The storm headed east and struck the Johnstown-South Fork area only two days later. The storm caused the worst downpour in this area with six to ten inches of rain in just twenty- four hours. The downpour caused trees to fall and rail lines to wash away. Elias Unger who was the president of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting club woke up to find the water in Lake Conemaugh swollen after the storm. The South Fork Dam was built to hold back the water in Lake Conemaugh. This
|collapsed in the Buffalo Creek Valley. Over 130 million gallons of water and waste material devastated Buffalo Creek's sixteen |
The Red River, or sometimes the Red River of the South, is a major river in the southern United States of America.[2] The river was named for the red-bed country of its watershed. It is one of several rivers with that name. Although it was once a tributary of the Mississippi River, the Red River is now a tributary of the Atchafalaya River, a distributary of the Mississippi that flows separately into the Gulf of Mexico. It is connected to the Mississippi River by the Old River Control Structure.
Communities that was adjacent to Buffalo Creek. When operation of the mine commenced in 1945 the practice dumping of slurry or coal mining waste into the hollow also began. Coal companies who operated upstream of the communities dammed Buffalo Creek to facilitate mining operations, which created an earth dam that held back 130 million gallons of water and coal waste. On average, a thousand tons of slurry had to be dumped every day. Although there were many complaints about the safety of the coal company and its regulation of the Buffalo Creek site, nothing was ever done to improve the dam’s conditions. The Buffalo Creek project had three earth dams ranging in
It was the story of heroic perseverance. The people somehow managed to endure one unimaginable hardship after another, to hold on to their lives, their land, and the ones they loved. The air itself could have killed them. The sky showered down this suffocating, blackness that could’ve erased the sun at mid-day. It was a result of a whole bunch of things that are just in aid to human beings. The great plain stretched from Canada to southern Texas, from the Missouri river to the Rocky Mountains. It was a land of few trees, frequent rains, and constant winds. On January 21st, 1932 a dust cloud appeared outside of Amarillo, Texas. This one rose 10,000 feet into the air. It carried winds of 60 miles per hour. The people have never seen nothing like it in their lives. It scared them to death. They didn’t know what to think. You could have been just standing there still and then wham the dust hits you. The storm passed quickly but that winter of 1932 was uncommonly dry and so was the spring that followed. The fierce winds began picked up the sand and soil from the bear fields again and moved it across the landscape. It reduced visibility to less than a quarter mile. The sand storms did so much damage to the peoples lands and the cattle. Even if they walked across the street their legs would be blistered because the dirt hit them so
The Effect it has on people that survived ,is that there family, and friends might not of lived through it. Also a lot of houses were flattened