Ohio's 1986 Balloon Disaster

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120 segments

0:00

in 1986 1.5 million balloons were

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released in downtown Cleveland

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charity fundraiser and a way to put the

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growing city of Cleveland on the map but

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instead of being remembered as an

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impressive spectacle it would go down in

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history as a fatal disaster

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the event was called Balloon Fest and it

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was Cleveland's way of trying to Rebrand

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you see at the time they had a pretty

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rough reputation which was exemplified

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by its well-known nickname

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city leaders wanted to prove that

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Cleveland wasn't a mistake and that it

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was well on its way to becoming a

0:48

world-class City the previous year

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Disneyland had claimed the Guinness

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World Record for the biggest

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simultaneous balloon launch and for some

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reason the city leaders thought that

1:00

outdoing Disneyland was the perfect way

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to start cleaning up Cleveland's image

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soon after the United Way of Cleveland

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developed their ambitious plan to launch

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nearly 1 million five hundred thousand

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balloons over the city the event

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required six months of planning

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including the construction of a net the

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size of a city block it took thousands

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of volunteers hours to fill the balloons

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and finally on September 27 1986 the day

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of Balloon Fest arrived

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as these final preparations were

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underway in downtown Cleveland a very

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different story was unfolding just to

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the east on Lake Erie the previous night

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a severe storm had rolled through the

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area they want to remind everybody in

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part of Ohio we continue with that

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severe thunderstorm watch until 1am and

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about an hour before the storm two men

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had gone out fishing

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on the morning of the 27th the day of

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Balloon Fest the two men were reported

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missing by their families their boat was

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found abandoned on the lake and

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authorities suspected that the men had

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fallen overboard because of the weather

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the Coast Guard immediately began a

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search and rescue operation

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meanwhile in Cleveland's Public Square

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over 100 000 people had gathered to

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witness the balloon launch the

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organizers were pleased that last

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night's storm had cleared in time for

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the event to go forward but as the day

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wore on the weather once again took a

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turn for the worse a major rainstorm was

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closing in but the balloons were already

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filled and ready to go rescheduling at

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this point would be near impossible so

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instead they released the balloons ahead

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of schedule

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[Music]

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has just been broken in Cleveland over 1

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billion 500 000 more there was no doubt

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about it the launch was spectacular

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it was a tremendous moment of Triumph

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for the city of Cleveland but

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unfortunately this moment of Triumph did

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not last long the expectation was that

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the helium-filled balloons would float

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around for a while before eventually

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deflating and returning to Earth one by

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one but that wasn't what happened and

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the wind has just shifted just enough

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that the balloons are now trailing fast

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this is beautiful the blues are coming

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back this way they're coming back the

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cold air and oncoming rain immediately

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pushed the still inflated balloons tens

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of thousands of them back down towards

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the ground in droves the result was mass

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chaos balloons one and a half million of

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them caused quite a stir in Cleveland

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yesterday it was part of the mortally

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wind quickly carried the balloons to

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Burke Lakefront Airport and within

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minutes the runways were so clogged that

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all flights had to be suspended the

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balloons also started to descend on

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certain streets and after a number of

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car accidents these roads had to be

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closed until a bulldozer arrived to

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clear out the balloons as all this was

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going on the Coast Guard was still out

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looking for the two missing fishermen

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ironically that big balloon launch at

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Cleveland today is one of the things

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that's making this search so tough for

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the Coast Guard balloons had descended

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on Lake Erie in massive quantities 60 of

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the balloons launched landed here

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instead of the plan 10 it's like trying

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to find a needle in a haystack here can

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you imagine trying to find somebody

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floating out here or even spotting a

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life jacket with all these balloons on

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the water on September 29th two days

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after the balloons were launched the

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Coast Guard finally called off the

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search for the two missing fishermen and

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shortly after both men's bodies washed

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ashore Balloon Fest was featured in the

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1988 edition of The Guinness Book of

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World Records however that was the only

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addition to include it and shortly after

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Guinness ended the category of balloon

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launching altogether

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[Music]

Interactive Summary

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In 1986, the city of Cleveland organized 'Balloon Fest', an ambitious event intended to rebrand the city's reputation by releasing 1.5 million balloons to break a world record. However, the event, which was supposed to be a celebratory spectacle, turned into a disaster when changing weather patterns caused the balloons to return to the ground, causing traffic accidents, airport closures, and critically hampering a Coast Guard search-and-rescue mission for two missing fishermen, whose bodies were later recovered.