By BILL LUSK
The Logan Banner
(Herald-Dispatch file photo)
Gallery: The Buffalo Creek Flood
MAN, W.Va. — Monday marked the 46th anniversary of the Buffalo Creek Flood.
February 26, 1972, at approximately 8 a.m., a coal slurry impoundment dam owned by Pittston Coal Company burst, releasing 132 million gallons of water, coal refuse and silt into the Buffalo Creek community.
Black waves of water with crests over 30 feet high rampaged through 17 communities destroying everything in its path. Saunders was the first in its path, and Pardee, Lorado, Craneco, Lundale, Stowe, Crites, Latrobe, Robinette, Amherstdale, Becco, Fanco, Riley, Braeholm, Accoville, Crown and Kistler followed.
By 10 a.m., the floodwaters had reached the Guyandotte River at Man, destroying everything within a 17-mile stretch.
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