Say the word, “flooding,” and what comes to mind? If you live along the Gulf or East coast, you may think hurricane. In hilly, interior regions of the country, a heavy rainstorm can produce flash flooding. Both are acts of nature, but any liquid, given the right conditions, can produce flooding.

Two Floods

In 1887, Nashville, Tennessee, began construction of a city water reservoir on a hill south of downtown. This masonry structure—believed to be the most watertight and resistant to water pressure—stood 33 feet 9 inches high. When finished in 1889, the elliptical-shaped reservoir, separated into two basins, held a total of 51 million gallons of water. Twenty-three years later, just after midnight on November 5, 1912, the reservoir’s southeast quadrant collapsed and 25.5 million gallons of water raced down the hill.

On January 15, 1919, exactly 103 years ago today, Boston, Massachusetts, experienced a more bizarre flood. At just after 12:30 P.M., a four-year-old storage tank—50 feet tall and 280 feet around—split apart, or “exploded,” as many witnesses claimed. Some 13,000 tons of molasses formed a 15 to 30-foot wall and barreled down the streets at 35 miles an hour.

The Damage Done

Nashville’s water reservoir was more in the “county” than “city.” Coupled with the time the disaster happened, just after midnight when most people were at home in bed, the resulting damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been. No lives were lost, but property damage was estimated at $75,000-$100,000. The total flood cost added up to $364,525.21. (More than $10 million today.)

Boston’s molasses storage tank sat in a more congested area, and the collapse happened in the middle of the day when people were out and about. Twenty-one people (and many animals) died, and 150 people were injured. The molasses, coupled with the tank’s debris as it shot outward, collapsed raised railroad tracks, knocked buildings off their foundations, and crushed railway cars. Even worse, sticky, congealed molasses covered everything. Cleaning up water damage is one thing, but cleaning up molasses is another. It had to be pumped up and out of basements. Attempts to simply wash it away with water from fire hydrants didn’t work. Instead, water from Boston harbor had to be pumped in. This saltwater thinned the molasses enough so that it flowed out into the harbor. The resulting court case lasted three years and cost the defendant $600,000. (Probably over $20 million today.)

The Lessons Learned

In both cases, there were signs of the impending disaster, but lack of monitoring, or flat-out ignoring of these signs, allowed the disasters to happen. That doesn’t mean nothing good came from these flooding incidents. As I pointed out in my “Did You Know Even Disasters Can Have Silver Linings?”, something good can come even from catastrophes. Lessons are learned, and practices change. These two resulted in better safety consciousness and the need for closer and more frequent inspections.

DYK Nashville still uses its 132-year-old water reservoir? It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

 

DYK Caribbean molasses was distilled into alcohol and used to manufacture munitions for World War I?

 

DYK Boston residents say some days they can still smell molasses?