100 years ago in Boston: The day molasses was deadly

BOSTON — Slow as molasses? This treacle didn’t trickle. It was a sticky, deadly tsunami that flattened an entire Boston neighborhood within seconds.

On Tuesday, the city marked the 100th anniversary of its most peculiar disaster — the Great Molasses Flood.

It struck without warning at midday on Jan. 15, 1919, when a giant storage tank containing more than 2.3 million gallons of molasses suddenly ruptured, sending a giant wave of goop crashing through the cobblestone streets of the bustling North End.

The initial wave rose at least 25 feet high — nearly as tall as an NFL goalpost — and it obliterated everything in its path, killing 21 people and injuring 150 others. Rivets popped like machine-gun fire. Elevated railway tracks buckled.