The Cleveland Balloon Disaster in 1986, where the record and the disaster came at the same time

A charity company called United Ways of Cleveland decides to organize a promotional and demonstration balloon festival. 1.5 million balloons are ordered, and the company set a record and a major disaster in 1986.

In 1986, the American company united way of cleveland would release 1.5 million balloons at the same time and thus set a great record. Of course things are not going well.

Thanks to a large team that worked for days, 1.5 million balloons were filled with helium and placed under a sizeable net.

Finally the day has come. however, a rainstorm warning was issued that day. Hence about 1.5 million balloons were released from cleveland public square earlier than planned.

According to the plan, it should have stayed in the air for a long time until the balloons in the air deflated. Unfortunately it did not work as planned. After the balloons were released, they started to fall to the ground when faced with cold weather and rain. More than a million balloons returned to the earth, scattered all over the place and blocked the city's waterways. Burke lakefront airport remained closed for half an hour after the wrath of the balloons.

Some balloons landed at the pasture of a woman named Louise Nowakowski in Ohio Medina. The balloons caused the horses in the pasture to be scared and injured. Nowakowski later sued for $ 100,000 in united way, and they decided to resolve it among themselves before the case got bigger.

The balloons prevented the search and rescue efforts of the two fishermen who disappeared. Missing men raymond broderick and bernard sulzer were reported missing on the day of the incident. Although their 16-meter boats were anchored west of the edgewater park partition, the coast guard search and rescue teams could not find them. With thousands of balloons scattered around, the rescuers had a lot of trouble and could not work. the bodies of these two fishermen later hit the shore.

When the drivers started to watch the balloons falling from the sky, the traffic was blocked and many cars crashed. The organizing company had to deal with major lawsuits for years, although it broke the world record. If this organization was organized with the work of a meteorology engineer, things would be different.