JANUARY 15, 1919

This week sees the centenary of the Great Boston Molasses Flood, one of the stranger disasters, in history.

On January 15, 1919, in the North End neighbourhood of the Massachusetts city, a large storage tank burst and a wave of molasses rushed through the streets at 35mph, killing 21 Bostonians and injuring 150.

The disaster took place at the Purity Distilling Co. when the temperature had climbed rapidly from the freezing conditions of the previous few days.

This, combined with a chemical reaction in the tank – molasses was fermented to produce rum and ethanol for the munitions industry – proved too much for the poorlymaintained 50-feet tall vat containing 2.3 million gallons of molasses.

It burst with a rumble that witnesses said sounded like a train passing close by, while the rivets shooting out of the tank sounded like machine-gun fire.

A wave of molasses 25 feet high swept down the street, preceded by a rush of sweetsmelling air, sweeping buildings off their foundations.

Several blocks were flooded waist-deep and people and horses alike were drowned.