| Chapter 1: | Buffalo Creek Before, During, and Soon After the Flood |
Other survivors started frantic efforts to determine whether their neighbors and their relatives and friends in other coal camps had survived the flood. This was all the more difficult because most telephone and power lines were down, most roads and alleys were clogged with debris, and many vehicles were destroyed or flooded. Rumors started spreading about the extent of damages elsewhere along Buffalo Creek and about the causes and reasons for the flood. Most alarming were rumors that more dams were bursting somewhere upstream and that more flash floods were on the way. These problems were particularly severe in the coal camps in the upper half of Buffalo Creek and among neighbors who lived on the fringes of the camps.
By midday, help from outside agencies started to arrive at Man and Kistler in the form of the West Virginia State Police, firemen, ambulance crews, and volunteers from other coal camps along the Guyandotte River. The movement of these external relief forces up Buffalo Creek was impeded by derelict and broken buildings, vehicles, and railcars that clogged Route 16 (the only road that ran up the valley) and the bridges that remained standing over the creek. Because of this congestion, the coal camps at the upper end of the hollow—Stowe, Lundale, Lorado, Pardee, and Three Forks—received very little aid from external agencies until the next day, Sunday, and very few supplies for many days to come.
By some accounts, the vast majority of the survivors were without shelter that first night. By other accounts, many survivors whose dwellings still were inhabitable provided shelter, food, and succor to neighbors in need—even to complete strangers. Goldie and Buddy Cummins were among the “Good Samaritans” on that first night. In Goldie’s own words: