Donora,+PA

In 1948, smoke ran like water in the Monongahela Valley and caused residents to die while others fled their homes in order to protect their health. This disaster was one of the most lethal air pollution accidents ever. The disaster took place over the course of five days, when weather conditions trapped cooled coal smoke and pollution from a zinc smelter and steel mill beneath a layer of warm air over the river valley that enclosed the two towns and the surrounding farmland. Almost half of the area's 14,000 residents reported becoming ill and about two dozen deaths were attributed to the badly polluted air. After the disaster, it was never found what exact pollutants were present. It is believed that a thick blanket of sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide, and particulate literally smothered the towns. Donora is remembered as a key event that inspired federal air pollution legislation in the 1960s and 1970s and contributed indirectly to the establishment of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1970.

[|Donora PA disaster] [|More!] [|More on the Donora disaster!] [|Donora]

