No wonder people thought the world was ending that year

Comments

• PugJesus@piefed.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  https://www.buffalohistorygazette.net/2010/09/the-lake-erie-seiche-disaster-of-1844.html

  This flood occurred October 18, 1844. It was the most disastrous that has ever occurred since the city was founded. It came without warning, an avalanche of waters upon a sleeping community, many of whom were drowned and many of whom had narrow escapes from a similar fate. For several days before the occurrence of the flood a strong north-east wind had been driving the water up the lake, but on the evening of the 18th a sudden shift of the wind took place, and it blew from the opposite direction with a tremendous force never before or since known to the inhabitants of Buffalo. It brought with it immense volumes of water in a tremendous wave, which overflowed the lower districts of the city and vicinity, demolishing scores of buildings, and spreading ruin along the harbor front, playing havoc with shipping, and causing an awful destruction of human life.

  original