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Analysis of coal refuse dam failure. Middle Fork Buffalo Creek, Saunders, West Virginia. Volume 2. Appendices.

W. A. Wahler & Associates

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, OFR 10(2)-73, 1973 Feb; :1-178

https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/dashboard/searchResults/titleDetail/PB215143.xhtml

10010521

On February 26, 1972, a coal refuse dam, owned and operated by the Buffalo Mining Company, failed near Saunders, West Virginia. The resulting flooding of the Buffalo Creek Valley had national ramifications. The immediate consequences of the flooding were the deaths of 118 persons and 7 reported missing, the loss of over 500 homes, and extensive flood damage to other property in Buffalo Creek Valley. Basic data were gathered during the investigation of the middle fork valley dams and refuse bank above saunders during field investigations of the site conducted from the end of March through mid-September 1972. This information consisted of field mapping, subsurface exploration and sampling by means of auger drill holes, field density tests, field permeability tests, aerial photography, vane shear tests, and cone penetration tests. Volume 2, the appendices, covers these details.

Coal mining; Waste disposal; Dams; Failure; Accident investigations; Floods; Disasters; Flood plains; Damage; Coal mines; Coal preparation; Spillways; Hazards; Death; Residential buildings; Reservoirs; Drilling; Aerial photography; Subsurface investigations; Soil mechanics; Coal refuse dams; Middle Fork Valley; Buffalo Creek flood

19730201

CP; Final Contract Report

1973

PB-215143

A01

OFR 10(2)-73; Contract-S0122084

WO

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, OFR 10(2)-73

WV; DC

W. A. Wahler & Associates