The Great Molasses Flood
It
sounds like something out of a tall tale, but Boston’s North End was the site of a very real and very sticky disaster in January 1919. A massive molasses storage tank—fifty feet tall and holding over 2 million gallons—suddenly burst, sending a wave of thick, gooey syrup surging through the streets.
The molasses reportedly moved at 35 miles per hour, flattening buildings, toppling a firehouse, sweeping pedestrians off their feet, and even lifting a train off its tracks. Twenty-one people died, over a hundred were injured, and horses were trapped in the sticky mess that hardened quickly in the winter air.
Cleanup efforts were nearly as overwhelming as the flood itself. Crews used salt water, sand, and even firehoses to try to wash it away, but the syrup made its way into homes, subways, and storefronts.
Rescuers and cleanup crews tracked it everywhere they went, and soon, all of Boston seemed to be coated in a faint layer of molasses. Some residents swore the sweet, musty smell lingered in the neighborhood for decades.
Today, the Great Molasses Flood serves as a bizarre but sobering reminder of how something as simple as syrup can wreak unexpected havoc.
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