Ever heard the saying "slower than molasses"? Turns out it's not true. Molasses can move pretty fast — a fact Boston residents learned the hard way nearly 100 years ago.
The chaotic aftermath of the Boston molasses disaster.
Navy personnel and firefighters rush to the scene.
Onlookers stand near the tank 30 minutes after the explosion.
Atlantic Avenue railway tracks over Commercial Street twisted by the force of the flood.
Buildings leveled by the flood.
Wrecked cars and debris lay strewn beneath the elevated railway.
Firehouse 31, ripped from its foundation by the flood.
A man surveys the damage caused by the molasses flood.
The disaster makes top story the following day, superseding news of the latest U.S. state to ratify prohibition. The death toll eventually rose to 21.
Rescue workers, knee-high in molasses, struggle to free trapped victims.
A welder works to cut the tank in search of bodies.
The Red Cross, Firefighters, and Army and Navy personnel rush to the scene.
Prior to the disaster, the molasses tank (right) towered over the other buildings in the area.
A worker uses an acetylene torch to cut through a section of the ruptured tank.
Debris lay strewn beneath the elevated tracks.