“Beyond Buffalo” by Betsy Reeder

Beyond Buffalo by Betsy Reeder takes readers beyond the deaths and physical destruction caused by the Buffalo Creek disaster to explore the long-term psychological impacts on survivors. The Buffalo Creek flood occurred in Logan County, West Virginia, on February 26, 1972, when three coal slurry impoundment dams fail during heavy rainfall, killing 125 and injuring 1,121. Over 4,000 were left homeless. But those are just numbers. Reeder’s extraordinary achievement is to take us inside the shattered life of Ellie, a high school senior.

Beyond Buffalo is the story of Ellie and her family—her mother and father and brother Kenny—and her boyfriend Greg. It is the story of Ellie’s forever-altered life:

“I’m not going to explain how I put my life back together. Three-and-a-half years later, I haven’t. You can’t reassemble al life when its world is gone. That world isn’t coming back, not ever. All I can do is redefine myself and it might take a lifetime.

It’s getting harder and harder to remember who I was anyway. Before. When it was before, none of us knew it. We didn’t have an inkling we lived a temporary sort of existence that could be violently and terrifying ended in the matter of a morning. Far less than a morning, actually.”

Reeder captures Ellie’s terror as she and her family climb a hill frantically trying to escape from a mountain of mud and sludgy water. Every horrifying moment the family they spend stranded without help on that hill builds dread and suspense. Reeder expertly depicts Ellie’s guilt and shame that she couldn’t save her beloved horse or the elderly neighbors she thought of as grandparents. The flood levels entire close-knit communities. Survivors relive the terror as they share the nightmarish moments when they witnessed the deaths of neighbors, unable to save them as they barely clung to life themselves.

Each survivor handles the aftermath differently, some eaten up by guilt, some by venting anger, some by crying, some by trying to bury the memories deep within. The novel shows failed attempts to return to ordinary parts of life like attending a different school and different church. Reeder does an excellent job of revealing the stresses the disaster placed on marriages as homeless families either were crammed into HUD trailers or in relatives’ basements in nearby towns. Worse yet, many of the menfolk were expected to go back to work for the very company, Pittston Coal, whose shoddy work and malfeasance caused the disaster.

Despite the horrors detailed in this story, Reeder offers many moments of hope. Ellie is smart and resilient enough to build a new life. Readers will rejoice when she finds a way to bring her love for horses and art into her world again. There is also a riveting scene of whitewater rafting on the Gauley River as Ellie confronts her crippling fear of drowning. The adventure scene is so well written, readers will vicariously experience the breathtaking raft trip without getting wet.

Beyond Buffalo shares with readers the natural beauty of southern West Virginia, alongside the damage caused by the coal industry. Pittson had declared the dams safe only four days before their failure. This fast-paced novel is a reminder of the dangers of corporate greed and of the need for enforced regulations and inspections by unbiased outsiders. Most of all, it is a journey inside the human psyche, a journey of rebuilding life after unfathomable loss. As humans face continuous disasters caused by a changing climate, the novel offers particularly valuable insights on coping with an increasingly dangerous world.

Betsy Reeder

Betsy Reeder is a retired biologist and college educator, as well as a doting grandma. She is the author of a historical fiction trilogy set in the New River region of West Virginia: Madam’s Creek, Broomstraw Ridge, and Salt in Boiling Water. She is also the author of the Civil-war-era novel Tupper’s Coins and the biography Broadus Unbound.