The Buffalo Creek Flood - A Sample

A sample from the award-winning 1975 Appalshop film "The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man." On Feb. 26, 1972, a coal waste dam owned by the Pittston Company collapsed at the head of a crowded hollow in southern West Virginia. A wall of sludge, debris, and water tore through the valley below, leaving in its wake 125 dead and 4000 homeless. The Pittston Company, owners of the dam, denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that the disaster was 'an act of God'. Interviews with survivors, representatives of union and citizen's groups, and company officials are juxtaposed with actual footage of the flood and scenes of the ensuing devastation. A film by Mimi Pickering.

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  News & Politics