Friday is the 49th anniversary of the Buffalo Creek flood disaster.
On February 26, 1972, the Pittston Coal Company’s coal slurry dam #3 burst, flooding the community with millions of gallons of black wastewater. The dam had been marked “satisfactory” by an inspector just four days earlier.
Out of a population of 5,000 people, 125 were killed, 1,121 were injured, and over 4,000 were left homeless. 507 houses were destroyed, in addition to 44 mobile homes and 30 businesses.
Buffalo Creek Memorial Library will hold a memorial event at 1 p.m. this afternoon, which will be broadcast live over its Facebook.
