Upon learning of the dam collapse and flood down Buffalo Creek, local television stations rushed journalists and camera crews to the scene of the disaster. Among the television crews present, were those from WSAZ-TV (Channel 3), which had news bureaus in both Charleston and Huntington.

WSAZ-TV journalists and camera crews documented the human tragedy unfolding before them on 16mm color film. The interviews they conducted and the film they shot are priceless historical documents.

More than a decade later the station transferred this historic footage to the West Virginia State Archives in Charleston and Special Collections at Marshall University's Morrow Library. Here is a small selection of the somber voices and sobering images on this film.

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INTERVIEWS
   Interview with woman (0:27, sound, Charleston News Bureau).
   Interview with woman (1:12, sound, Huntington News Bureau).
   Interview with man (2:17, sound, Huntington News Bureau).

FLOOD DAMAGE AND CLEAN-UP
   Flood damage (0:42, silent, Huntington News Bureau).
   Damage and clean-up (3:09, silent/sound, Huntington News Bureau).
   Damage and clean-up (1:35, silent/sound, Huntington News Bureau).

AERIAL VIEWS
   Aerial footage (2:38, silent, Huntington News Bureau).
   Aerial footage (0:05, silent, Huntington News Bureau).
   Aerial footage (0:06, silent, Huntington News Bureau).
   Aerial footage (0:15, silent, Huntington News Bureau).

COMMUNITY RELIEF ASSISTANCE
   Charleston responds (0:41, silent, Charleston News Bureau).
   Huntington responds (0:34, silent, Huntington News Bureau).

POLITICIANS RESPOND
   Governor Arch Moore (1:07, silent/sound, Charleston News Bureau).
   Senator Jennings Randolph (0:45, sound, Charleston News Bureau).
   Congressman Ken Hechler (0:55, sound, Charleston News Bureau).
   Secretary of State Jay Rockefeller (0:58, sound, Charleston News Bureau).

ADDITIONAL FOOTAGE
   A similar impoundment, Kanawha County (1:47, silent, Charleston News Bureau).