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This article discusses the impact of the Buffalo Creek, West Virginia flood on February 26, 1972 on the survivors. The sudden collapse of the massive refuse pile dam of Pittston Co. unleashed 132 million gallons of water and coal waste materials on the unsuspecting residents of Buffalo Creek. The rampaging wave of water and sludge traveled down the creek in waves of between twenty and thirty feet and at speeds sometimes approaching thirty miles per hour. Buffalo Creek's sixteen small towns were devastated by the deluge, over 125 people were killed, and over four thousand survivors were left homeless. Some 615 survivors of the Buffalo Creek flood were examined by psychiatrists one and one-half years after the event, and 570 of them were found to be suffering from an identifiable emotional disturbance.