Disasters With Dark Causes
American disasters where the real cause was a human decision — from the Johnstown Flood in 1889 to the Flint water crisis in 2014 — collected in two series covering nine events and 3800 deaths.
Disasters With Dark Causes
Three American infrastructure failures — the Hyatt Regency collapse the I-35W bridge and the Flint water crisis — share the same pattern: errors that oversight should have caught and accountability that never reached the decision-makers.
Disasters With Dark Causes
Between 6000 and 12000 Flint children were permanently harmed by lead after state emergency managers switched the city's water source in 2014 and suppressed the evidence for 18 months.
Disasters With Dark Causes
13 people died when the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed on August 1 2007 — a design flaw from 1967 that 40 years of federal inspections never found despite a structurally deficient rating.
Disasters With Dark Causes
114 people died when two walkways collapsed at the Kansas City Hyatt Regency on July 17 1981 — because a design change made by phone call was never checked against structural load requirements.
Disasters With Dark Causes
Six American industrial disasters from 1889 to 2010 — the Johnstown Flood Iroquois Theatre Texas City Cocoanut Grove Galveston and Deepwater Horizon — share one pattern: negligence protected by legal immunity.
Disasters With Dark Causes
The Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20 2010 killed 11 workers and released 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf — after BP bypassed safety tests on an overdue well to save money.
Disasters With Dark Causes
492 people died in the Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire on November 28 1942 — in five minutes — because a Boston club owner locked an exit and held double the legal capacity.
Disasters With Dark Causes
581 people died on April 16 1947 when the SS Grandcamp exploded in Texas City harbor — because 2300 tons of ammonium nitrate was officially classified as non-explosive fertilizer.
Disasters With Dark Causes
602 people died in the Iroquois Theatre fire on December 30 1903 — in a building advertised as fireproof with exits that wouldn't open and sprinklers not connected to water.
Disasters With Dark Causes
The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 killed at least 8000 people — the deadliest U.S. natural disaster — after federal weather officials suppressed Cuban forecasters' warnings about the storm's path.
Disasters With Dark Causes
2209 people died in May 1889 when the South Fork Club's neglected dam collapsed — the deadliest dam failure in American history and a case of negligence that went completely unpunished.