Slow as molasses? Sweet but deadly 1919 disaster explained
BOSTON (AP) — The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 — one of Boston's most peculiar disasters — killed 21 people, injured 150 others and flattened buildings when a giant storage tank ruptured.
[...] Harvard University researchers think they know why the wave of sticky stuff claimed so many lives: A winter chill rapidly cooled the molasses as it streamed through the streets, complicating rescuers' frantic efforts to free victims.
A team of experts who studied the disaster to gain a better understanding of fluid dynamics concluded that cold temperatures quickly thickened the syrupy mess, which might have claimed few if any lives had it occurred in spring, summer or fall.
On Jan. 15, 1919, shortly after 12:40 p.m., the massive tank in Boston's crowded North End buckled and gave way, releasing more than 2.3 million gallons of molasses in a towering wave that historical accounts indicate was initially 25 feet tall — nearly as high as a football goalpost.