The Unique Disaster Caused by 1.5 Million Balloons

The year was 1986, Cleveland started to develop again and the whole world ‘we We’re not down, we’re rising, we’re happy‘ had become a city that had to give its image. For this reason, the authorities decided to organize an event that would show both the aid and the state of the city to the whole world. While discussions were going on for the event, one of the charities, United Way of Cleveland, came up with a very interesting idea.

The organization had planned an event that would both make the children happy and bring everyone in the city together. In fact, they were so ambitious that they participated in this event, which they did not know would end in disaster. They would even get into the Guinness Book of Records. So what was this event, what happened before and after?

According to the plans, thousands of volunteers in the city would gather in the square and inflate balloons together.

Yes, you didn’t read it wrong. People of all ages would sit down, fill the balloons with helium gas, and then release them into the sky. target full 1.5 million balloons simultaneously to the sky.

Work started days in advance and announcements were made about the event. On September 26, one day before the event, the volunteers gathered in the town square. Since the balloons will be filled with helium gas, they are placed on a building in the square to prevent them from flying. a huge network placed.

Next day the sky would be colored. At the same time, according to the target, the balloons would fly towards the lake and would not spread over a large area when they burst, since they have a degradable structure.

However, an unexpected development took place and the weather, which was expected to be sunny daily, started to deteriorate as of the night hours connecting 26 September to 27 September. It even got so bad that with the storm driving rain it started to rain.

Some of the officials said the event was scheduled for another day. asked to be delayed but the organizers decided to move it to earlier hours instead of canceling it. By 2 pm all the balloons were inflated and a large crowd filled the square.

And that moment came… With the opening of the net, 1.5 million balloons began to float towards the sky.

With the effect of helium, the balloons were expected to fly within a certain area up to 10 kilometers. However, when strong wind and rain are added to adverse weather conditions, balloons to be disoriented and began to fly lower.

1.5 million balloons were all over Cleveland. Balloons expected to be in the sky roads, buildings and even the lake. even spread, and soon the first news of the disaster came.

The balloons spreading on the roads got so low that they minimized the view of the drivers. Then all over the city traffic accidents started to happen.

people slowly falling giant helium drops Burke Lakefront Airport had to close for half an hour due to balloons on the runway.

The area from which the balloons were deployed was so large that it even reached a horse farm on the other side of town.

He landed on a pasture in Medina County, Ohio, startling some horses. to their injuries caused.

The most crucial event that emerged as a result of the event was what happened to two fishermen.

On the day of the event, the police received a report that two men fishing in the lake were missing. Authorities would start searching for the men, but due to the hundreds of thousands of balloons that spread over the city, they were neither air, land nor water. recovery failed.

In fact, the situation was so bad that the teams searching the lake, because of the balloons, human head or balloon could not distinguish it. Although the men’s 16-foot boat was found moored in Edgewater Park, coastguard search and rescue teams were unable to locate them.

On September 29, Coast Guard teams suspended their search and found the bodies of both men. beached days later. Despite all these tragic events, Cleveland made his name in the Guinness Book of Records, but Guinness removed this category from its list due to safety concerns.

You can watch the event with all the details in the video below.