Coal disaster 50 years later: WVa creek teeming with fish

By JOHN RABY
Associated Press

MAN, W.Va. (AP) — Fifty years ago in West Virginia, the collapse of a coal-waste impoundment unleashed a torrent of black water into a narrow valley. More than a dozen towns were inundated and 125 people lost their lives. On Saturday, the Buffalo Creek community will remember the victims at the same high school that served as a temporary morgue. A happier event will be held in April: a fishing day for children to celebrate the creek’s rebirth. The waterway was known for its trout before the disaster, but its fishing habitat was lost for more than three decades afterward. That all changed thanks to the steady, coordinated efforts of a conservation group.