Where this source supports the record
Each entry separates the article’s editorial relevance note from its exact, section-level claims. A bibliography link without a direct claim is labeled plainly.
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Engineering failures · 26 February 1972Open article references →
The Buffalo Creek Flood
Buffalo Creek coal-waste dam and downstream valley · United States
Why editors use it hereLandmark sociological study of individual and collective trauma among survivors.
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Quick read
On 26 February 1972, a coal-waste impoundment failed above Buffalo Creek in Logan County after heavy rain.
Reviewed 26 July 2026 -
Trigger and conditions
Several days of rain raised the upper pool behind Dam No.
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Uncertainty
The sequence of overtopping, internal erosion, and structural collapse is reconstructed from damaged evidence, but official investigation firmly identified unsafe impoundment practice.
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Why it matters
Buffalo Creek shows how industrial waste can become a dam without receiving the design, inspection, and emergency planning expected of one.
Reviewed 26 July 2026
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Quick read