[Music] the town's all gone it's gone away the town's all gone it's gone away the town's all gone it's gone away the people are strong the wind I've not wrote anything about the flood after this you know I think it says it all pretty much I don't know if I'll write anything else about FL or not you know it's Friday late on the summer side of this West Virginia Town wishing it was another West Virginia town maybe on some other West Virginia riverbank riverbank beautiful is autumn in your mind here in this $75 room I remember things and more things I I've forgotten nothing my thoughts are as clear as the empty vodka bottle on my window seal I remember a Dusty afternoon lunch in the church yard 10 years ago every detail is close as it can be to me my thoughts run ragged one right after another like seconds and minutes that turn into hours and days thoughts and thoughts that turn into nightmares the point in your life where thoughts take the place of time passing that old license plate on the wall calls out a pass best forgotten and I forgotten now some names of those I knew some faces of misplaced people those people are lost to me and I've forgotten a Friday night rain and a Saturday morning pain no particular Saturday morning I said I'd forgotten that I can't remember the dead dogs I pulled out of the mud in houses wishing and hoping and good God above praying it wasn't some child still warm yet stiff from the mud I said I can't remember the watermarks on houses condemned and the water marks on people condemned and the water marks zigzagging the mountain sides for 10 miles down the holler I've forgotten the story of poor M wiro buried to the neck for hours and saying a prayer thanking the good Lord she had survived telling the sick and workers not to worry she was warm God had taken care of her while she waited and I've forgotten the look in Mr Johnson's eyes on that Saturday morning the way he stared at me laying down in that Rebel like that it showed in his eyes when I shook him asking for answer I swear it did I swear damn it I can't forget not this late at night [Music] [Music] [Music] wow [Music] how you guys doing today Leo here and he and we are out today uh doing a story for you guys we are in man West Virginia we've thought about doing this story for quite a while and we kind of I guess got around to doing other things and we finally got around to coming out here and telling you guys this story okay now guys we are right beside as you can see we are right beside a a fairly big iy Road this is Buffalo Creek this is the spot where this happened now I'm going to read you the story here I'm going to read you this sign and I've got some other stuff that we wanted to to share with you guys as well one of the worst floods in the US occurred here February 26th in 1972 when Buffalo Mining Company impoundment dam for the mine uh for mine waste broke releasing over 130 million gallons of black Wastewater it killed 125 property losses over $50 million and thousands left homeless three commissions placed blame on ignored safety practices led to the 1972 72 73 excuse me Dam control act and $ 13.5 million class action legal settlement in 1974 now that's the sign that's the marker now this flood itth hang on let this truck go I not that loud there were three impoundment dams and basically it's the slurry we'll get into that in a second from a coal mine and they just store it in these little ponds now they had three ponds and they basically want the top one broke and it drugg the rest of them down with it a bridge collapses an airplane crashes a coal mine explodes a dam fails and people die these are some of the methods by which tragedy has in recent years left a pattern of human misery suffering on West Virginia's history the initial public reaction in each case has always been shock and sympathy and then the questions why did it happen what caused it who's responsible soon after there is a demand for an investigation to determine the real facts and separate rumors from truth 52 years ago on February 26th in 1972 a dam holding 132 million gallons of toxic liquid coal waste ruptured here in the mountains of Southern West Virginia releasing a tsunami like death wave of liquid coal waste and chemical sludge said to be about 20 ft High it destroyed 4,000 homes in 16 towns injuring more than a thousand people and killing 125 seven bodies were never found some were never identified because the entire family had died together many of the survivors moved away and never returned completely traumatized by the disaster that took place here the accusing fingers were pointed as might be expected and rightfully so at the Buffalo Mining Company who was the owner of the dam and its parent company the Pittston Coal Company after all it was their Dam and the president of pitton later testified that his company was indeed responsible for the water being impounded behind their Dam he denied however that his company was guilty of any sort of criminal criminal negligence he said that it was an act that it was an act of God that God had filled the dam beyond what it would hold and it was there God's fault as usual we're not here to take sides we're here to recall the events of that tragic day and the real life people who were lost here the Buffalo Creek disaster was one of the deadliest floods in American history but unlike natural floods it was a man-made disaster caused by corporate negligence regulatory agency corruption and a not very well thought out idea of how to handle Industrial Waste Disposal today many of the circumstances that led to that disaster still exist but sludged dams are now required to be several times larger there are countless coal sludge dams across the country West Virginia alone has around 110 of them the coal industry claims that they are all fail prooof and completely safe but numerous records of failures do say otherwise just recently in 2000 a sludge Dam failed in Martin County Kentucky wreaking destruction on the entire town of inz you see after the coal is mined Co companies wash the coal with a chemical cocktail before shipping it off to power plants this sludge is what the pond itself was actually made of when it collapsed the 10 to 20t high tsunami wave crashed through this right here steep Mountain Valley and you can see how the sides go up it traveled at an average speed of better than 7 ft per second reaching the town of man right down here at 11:00 a.m. during the 3 hours that this wall of water raged down this 17m Long Valley at least 118 lives were lost while this was happening an additional Seven Persons are still listed as missing by the West Virginia State Police besides the tragic loss of so many lives and additional 1,000 people suffered injuries 57 houses were lost or destroyed 4 four mobile homes were destroyed another 273 houses were severely damaged while nearly 663 more houses suffered damage to varying degrees a total of about 4,000 area residents were left homeless in the aftermath of the Buffalo Creek flood in addition three 30 business es 1,000 cars and trucks 10 Bridges along with power water and telephone lines were all destroyed the county road and Rail lines connecting the area to the rest of the world were all severely damaged it was in the truest sense the most destructive flood in West Virginia's history today we're focusing on some of the victims of the disaster to bring back some of their stories even if it is just for today now if you look up through there you can see the Buffalo Mountain Buffalo Creek I should say it circles up to here and winds between these two steep down this valley with steep mountains up both sides now you have to picture a 10 to 20t wall of water rushing down through here and it takes 3 hours to travel from the 17 m point where it starts all the way down to man West Virginia where it hits the town of man it takes 3 hours to get from point A to point B smashing communities and homes and livelihoods and people all along the way for three hours and we've got a couple more spots we're going to take you to today so I guess we'll move on up the road this is the entrance to Buffalo Creek right here it starts like I said it's town of man right down here so we're going to go up here there's another little Memorial that I want to show you guys we want to show you guys that's just right up here about a quart of a mile 30 sharp my house lifted up off the foundation and floated into the neighbor's house the house on upper side of mine come in float in against my house knock my house off of the off of its foundation they both went into my neighbor's house and the water I could not I could not see over the top of that when he had first come in sight the only warning we had was just a neighbor woman had uh spotted it and just pulled in in front of our house and hollered run the damn has broke and then you could hear the Roar of it and it well you could see it I saw my neighbors houses leave I watched them crumble I seen trees logs cars slate slush you name it and it was in that at we got through this safety and all and turned around I saw five houses floating down the creek and you could walk on from one to the other one house particularly I don't know who they were I didn't at the time I didn't know who they were but I found out later they was the Ballard and Janice Luke Carter family it was five of them in the house they never got out no they're all [Music] gone so if you drive up a little bit north of where we just were at the historic sign they have the Buffalo Creek Memorial which was actually a little bit not real clear on how to find so but it is uh just a little bit north on the same road of the where Leo just was so I guess this used to be like um you know where you would sign your name but there's no [Applause] paper it has everybody's names dedicated February 26 1996 now there's something on the sign I want to point out but we will go ahead and head up to the cemetery where they have a sign just like it and I'll point it out there where it's a little bit quieter but I just wanted to show you this and give you an idea of where it was okay now this right here is the town of man and it's just a really pretty little pretty little Community you know in southern West Virginia pretty old churches the town of man sits right at the end of Buffalo Creek it sits at a intersection where Buffalo Creek comes out and on that morning the morning of the Buffalo Creek disaster at 11:00 that put this town right in the crosshairs dead center of where the flood was going it came down and crashed into town at 11:00 a.m. we just wanted to stop down here just for a second to kind of give you an idea you know I mean you just look around and it's just regular everyday houses like yours and mine and that's exactly what was here back then you know it was regular people like you and me except they didn't know that this impoundment Dam had broke and that the flood waters were on their way [Music] we are at PC Mill in West Virginia and this is the Forest Lawn Cemetery of course this is Memorial Day weekend so it's actually a little busy but this has over 11,000 people buried here so it is a pretty big Cemetery by this area's standards but why we're here is because of this so me and Leo want to show you a couple things on here this is a memorial to the people that died in the flood I want to show you something you know you see a lot of names there but the first thing that I noticed is the families the names that are the same Atkins three of them five Atkins albrights several Bailey one two three four five six seven eight Bailey now I'm not going to go through all these obviously I think you get my point but 1 2 3 4 Carters look at all the dyons 1 2 3 4 5 six families four Hatfields one two three four Hatfields Geralds one two 3 4 five I mean this s jeez lesters one two 3 4 five six seven lers McCoys bunch of Osborne unknown yeah look at all the TRS I mean it's just hard to imagine whole Families how horrific this was for this area just to to deal with this and the loss I mean these are people that just woke up that day and thought it'd be a day like every other day and to die like that is horrible and when just them as their pets too you know and just it just makes me angry somehow I mean obviously it just does yeah People Like Us are always victims to money corporate greed money politics we are the ones that pay the price always so I'm not going to get into a big you know tangent about that but I just wanted to point that out it was just a cold dreary morning and um dark been snowing and it had rained oh it had rained for several days just torrential rains and all of a sudden here come this awful wall of black water there was houses there was Cars it was just horrendous been talked about for years but nobody believed it if just something they thought oh that's just talk that's not going to ever happen but it [Music] did we have two parts of roses and we' like to present a rose to each of you that is representing your families in rem of mik Kang Robert a Murray Thomas vanat Leonard e butcher Grady Michael wall Frankle Workman senior Kimberly K Bailey Augusta Miller Sylvia Albright Mary B Marin Goldie Marie sipples Alicia Dempsey donetta Lyn Lester felma Dylan Wendell Dallas osbor Edith blanken ship and Lillian Carter Anita Owen Smith Herbert Peters unidentified Diana McCoy Kimberly McCoy Harold Dylan Larry wall Kathy Wall May Gerald Owens Queen our children was raised together they they wern't like neighbors they was family um I travel over this old holl many a day with maybe two families in my car to the doctor uh my next door neighbor would take my corporator and put it on his car I'd take his cars off put it on mine that's the kind of neighbors we was we uh we didn't run knock on the door and say can of do we went no open the door and walked in and did do we we just worked together we took I guess you could say we took care of one another it'll never have another homey atmosphere that's the only thing I can tell you that really that to Define it it it was home I was one of the few psychologists that was available during the Buffalo Creek disaster and 1972 some of the uh emotional problem problems and psychophysiological problems were headaches some colitis different type of stress reactions there was uh an increase in alcohol consumption the families become more disruptive within themselves more arguments uh there was an increase in accidents of people just running off the road for instance there was EXT massive amount of depression uh guilt and anxiety one other thing right here that while we're right here at this Memorial that I wanted to mention you know we've kind of we've told you the financial cost um the monetary cost of the Buffalo Creek disaster but there is a little story from my personal experience that will put the human cost into perspective a whole lot better for you guys back about 1992 1995 somewhere in there uh a gentleman had bought financed a Kirby vacuum cleaner and there was a error on the contract I had to run out to man to acaville to be specific along uh right in the path of the the Buffalo Creek flood and to get a contract signed all it takes you know one decimal in the wrong spots all it takes I had to go back out and get the contract resigned the gentleman that bought the Kirby that I was doing the financing for was a survivor of the Buffalo Creek flood and you know how I am I like to talk to people and stuff you know and I got to talking to this he was I'm thinking 70s but like I said it's been many years ago but he was telling me about the day after the flood it might have been a day or two I'm not sure but he was he said that he was out and that he had been helping to clear the debris from the flood and that they had been working and he had stopped and sat down on a pile of trash and the Red Cross was there and they were giving out peanut butter sandwiches and Kool-Aid and so he got his sandwich and his Kool-Aid they gave him one too you know he sat there on his on this pile of debris and ate his peanut butter sandwich and drank his Kool-Aid after lunch when everyone went back to work he started back on the debris pile that he had just been sitting on eating lunch when he got to the bottom of the debris pile he found his sister he told me that after all them years and this had been many years after obviously like I said mid 90s he said that to this day he said I can't stand even the thought of peanut butter sandwiches or Kool-Aid he said I don't allow I don't allow either in my house he is really enjoying it enjoying his ride a he in my house now imagine that I mean that's how traumatic that's how traumatic this event was for him and like I said a lot of people moved away but you know he stayed and but just imagine you know the the things that must have went through his head every time he left the house you know so and so used to live here and we sound so and so here and there were three children over here and to just have all of that stuff in the back of your mind every day every single day because every day you go out the door you're reminded of it because you were there you lived it and you know just that story has that story stuck out in my mind for you know all these years years what that old man told me that day and you know when we were talking about coming out here and doing this story about the Buffalo Creek flood I wanted to make sure that I included that gentleman's story in this video for obvious reasons so this is one thing we did want to show you though this tiny Trio boy girl boy who were the victims of the Buffalo Creek disaster are unknown To Us by name but to our Heavenly Father they are known as three little angels now what's most likely happened with that is that the whole family died parents too so there's no one there to to say who they were say who they were um it's just kind of wild to me I just can't imagine you know someone buried them someone bought that headstone and someone had to actually deal with all the the you know the grief and the dirty part of this you know getting the bodies out of the sludge burying babies you know it's just it's horrible and it's like these things just kind of get forgotten like all things do in memory you know in time but at least today Memorial Day weekend weend can remember them well I hope you guys uh learned a little bit from this story and you know that we we did the best we could to bring strangers you know that we don't know story back to life for a little bit and um you know if you don't remember things you're destined to make the same mistakes again which I don't think anyone I don't think we ever learn really yeah cuz the people that learn are not the people that are in control and that's wherein the problem lies well like you said the ones that suffer aren't the ones that are making the money and making the rules right you know they're not the ones that have to pay the price in the end so well from PEX Mill West Virginia I guess we're out of here and God bless everyone and everybody if you have somebody in your family you know that you haven't went and saw their grave for a while go down there and bring them some flowers and say hello you know it's not going to hurt anything and remember some of the things that they did remember the good things you know because one day when it's you maybe not all of you but some of you would like someone to do that for you too so from PX Mill West Virginia I guess it's Hill Billy's out guys Hill Billy's out thank you for watching next time bye-bye [Music] all [Music] oh [Music]
