Invorming of people and floor coverings with bare pieces of grass and crumbling asphalt roads, the ghost city of love channel has a bit of a spooky feeling.
But the locals say that when you learn about the dark history, the abandoned community in Niagara Falls, New York, leaves an even more hair -raising print.
In the 1940s and 50s, the Love Canal neighborhood was the site of what the EPA Achter’s most terrible environmental tragedies in American history – and the Fallout still looms up today.
From 1942 to 1953, the Hooker Chemical Company, which produced industrial chemicals, dug channel in the city as a chemical waste dump, under the sanction of the government.
About 22,000 tonnes of waste was buried in the area.
In an attempt to transform the landfill, it was sold in the 1950s to the Niagara Falls City School District and it developed into a ‘charming’ rural neighborhood.
However, it was discovered that the industrial waste had not been sufficiently cleaned up and therefore many residents were hit with a series of miscarriages, birth deviations and diseases such as cancer.
Invorming of people, floor coverings with bare spots of grass and crumbling asphalt roads, the ghost city of love canal has a bit of a spooky feeling
A manager for the EPA, Eckardt Beck, visited the site in 1979 and explained that a woman he met had two grandchildren with birth abnormalities.
One of her granddaughters was ‘deaf born with a split palate, an extra row of teeth and slight disadvantage’, while one of her grandsons was born with an eye defect.
Beck said that two more men he met, also had children with birth defects – and while he wandered through the streets, he described the spotting of ‘peeing harmful substances’ and ‘experienced a weak, stifling scent’.
“Children came back from playing with burns on their hands and faces,” added the EPA employee.
Hooker Chemical Company was closed in 1968, but to this day some say that the toxic waste remains of influence on those who live in the surrounding areas of Niagara Falls.
In a Facebook group about the city, Sally Ann wrote: ‘The sad thing is that people believe that it is all’ fixed ‘and the chemicals do not go beyond the fence.
‘It is still leaking in the ground. There are still active tankers that pull chemicals out of the ground.
‘The part of the 102nd Street Dump on the river is visible from my father’s dock on the island of Cayuga and I can see it from there. Everyone who lives here is sick.
‘My mother died of a rare car -immune disease and my father has three different types of cancer. This is no coincidence.
‘It is sad what they did in this area so many years ago. The consequences will take forever. ‘
The chemical factory responsible for the problem of the Liefdekanaal is the Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation, in this aerial photo, which dumped toxic waste in the Love Canal district from 1940 to 1950 and was examined and exposed in 1980
When the clean -up efforts started in the love canal community, signs all over the area were posted with a special warning for all residents to stay outside
In the same Facebook -Thread that discussed Love Canal’s fate, Susan Rufrano Waitzman revealed how her aunt lived in the city and got mouth cancer, which led to her mouth being removed.
Heidi Czewicz Barnett described how she had just ghostly memories of the place and wrote: ‘Lived on the corner of Colvin Boulevard and 97th Street. One of the original built houses.
‘The vapors in the basement were so bad that my mother fainted and always fell the stairs to do the laundry.
“Sister had cooked all the time. My father looked at contractors who dig foundations for new houses and asked what the green stuff came up.
“They said he had to maintain his own business. I came across a white rock that I thought was the chalk and gave me a chemical burn all over my body. It’s terrible. ‘
Love Canal, which is located on one piece of three blocks of land on the eastern edge of Niagara Falls, is named after the founder, William T. Love.
He had visions of building a dream community, with a canal made by humans with the current from the river to deliver it with energy.
But the project was dumped in 1910 because of economic fluctuations and the EPA report notes that ‘the seeds of a real nightmare were planted in the 1920s [and] The channel was turned into a municipal and industrial chemical dump site. ‘
It is believed that 82 different connections were dumped in the Landliefdekjasal environments and 11 of these are suspected carcinogens.
After leaving the site, the Hooker Chemical Company covered the 16 -hectare landfill with hazardous waste with a 2ft bed of clay.
Moreover, around 100 houses were built, together with a public school.
It is believed that 82 different connections were dumped in the Landliefdkanaal and 11 of them are suspected carcinogenic substances
As the primary organizer of the Love Canal Home Gers Association, Lois Gibbs has also helped to draw broad public attention to the environmental crisis in Love Canal
But after residents started complaining about chemical leaks and foreign substances that pop up in their yards and cellars that they said they led to health problems, an investigation was started.
Tests revealed that there were High levels of toxic chemicals in the soil, air and water, leading to government action.
As the primary organizer of the Love Canal Home Gers Association, Lois Gibbs has helped to draw broad public attention to the environmental crisis in the love channel.
Both young children started to suffer from health problems, including asthma and epileptic seizures, after they had moved to the city.
After many campaigns, OIn August 7, 1978, the then new York governor Hugh Carey announced that the state would buy the houses of residents affected by the chemical contamination of the Liefdekanaal.
This decision came after an emergency for public health was declared because of the site for hazardous waste.
The purchase of the state was intended to facilitate the relocation of families from the most polluted areas.
In his 1979 report, EPA employee Beck noted that he was ‘very satisfied’ with how the initiative of the love channel displacement was managed.
However, he concluded: ‘But this is not really where the story ends. On the contrary.
‘We suspect that there are hundreds of such chemical dumps sites in this nation.
‘In contrast to the love canal, we are so close to human settlements. But without a doubt, many of these old dumps sites are time bombs with burning fuses – their content lied slowly. And the next cold victim is a water supply or a sensitive wetland.
“Love channel can now be added to a growing list of environmental disasters with toxins, ranging from industrial employees affected by nervous disorders and cancers to discover toxic materials in the milk of nurse mothers.”
#Disturbing #poisonous #city #York #chemical #disaster #led #devastating #malformations