Tennessee Coal Ash Spill Not the First or the Worst - The Story in Pictures of the 1972 Buffalo Creek Disaster

From the archives of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, the story of a coal ash disaster much worse than the current one in Tennessee. In the cost of lives and homes, it exceeded the Tennessee disaster and left much physical and psychological damage in its wake.

The night previous to the Buffalo Creek collapse in West Virginia, mining officials had been watching the dam after some heavy rains. Just before 8 A.M. on February 26, 1972 a heavy-equipment operator named Denny Gibson noticed the water had reached the top of the dam and that the dam itself was soggy.

At 8:05 A.M. it collapsed, and over 132 million gallons of black waste water rushed down the narrow Buffalo Hollow, washing away small towns, over a thousand vehicles, eventually killing 125 people and injuring another 1,100.

There was little warning from officials.

More than 4,000 additional people were left homeless. They eventually settled in court for a measly $2,700 each.

Complete story (with images) at the link above.

Note: Even Buffalo Creek wasn't the first. There is also the coal waste collapse of 1966 in Aberfan, Wales. That one killed over a hundred schoolchildren.