The Syrup Flood

Tweet

On Wednesday, January 15, 1919, in the North End district of Boston, Massachusetts there was a horrific flood. But it wasn't of water. You see the weather was warm for that time of the year. It was 40F when it had only been 2F the day before. At the Purity Distilling Company, there was a 2.5 million gallon tank of molasses being stored up above the street. It had a leak that employees had told the owner about several times but all he did was paint the tank the same color as the molasses. Local kids would come and collect the molasses from the leaking tank. On this particular day, a fresh, hot batch of this sweetener had been added. Pressure built up in the tank to the point that at 12:30p. that day the tank exploded with metal and rivets flying in the air. The thick, black glue-like substance moved like a tsunami wave 25 feet high through the town at 35 mph. Going in all directions at once it destroyed buildings instantly and people were pulled under this hot thick syrup. It was like quicksand. Rescue efforts continued for 4 days and 21 people were killed. It came out later that the man who had built this big tank had been incompetent. He didn't even know how to read a blueprint. With structural failure as the cause the company tried to claim terrorists were to blame. The case went on for 5 years and the company was made to pay $50 million(in today's money) in restitution.