Cleveland East Ohio Gas Explosion - Research Paper Example

After the accident, the above-ground storage policy was questioned and utility companies began to store natural gas below the ground to improve their safety rather than in tanks. The disaster was a valuable lesson that underlined the importance of ensuring optimum pressure in gas storage tanks and ensuring that leaks can be detected. This report recommends using tanks that store gas within them at a lower pressure and this would be invaluable even for transporting gas through pipelines to its various locations, because maintaining the pressure at a reasonable low would help to avoid the accidents that could result from leaks and over -pressurized pipelines.

On the 20th of October 1944, a natural gas storage tank above the ground which was full of liquefied natural gas exploded (www.ohiohistorycentral.org). Although investigators into the disaster were unable to discover the causes for the explosion, it is widely believed that a leak developed in the seam of the side of the tank that dipped down into the city sewers. Vapour began to escape from this seam, mixing with air and sewer gas, which in turn produced explosions (www.waymarking.com). Since the tank was located near a lake, winds blowing from the lake pushed the gas towards the town where it slipped into the sewer lines through the catch basins that were located in the street gutters.

The gas travelled rapidly through the underground pipes linking the sewer lines causing explosions that were so violent that they lifted manhole covers and sent them flying away. This was not however, the end of the disaster. The fire department was called out and tackled the explosions and fires, but even as they were working and the explosions were believed to have been contained, another above ground tank exploded, causing more fires, so that entire homes suddenly caught fire and burnt out with the