Help me out here. Not a movie, but a historical disaster. I’m thinking maybe New England in say the 1700’s early 1800’s. A huge brewery tank collapsed and flooded the town. Could be an interesting short.
You're probably thinking of the Great Molasses Flood of Boston 1919, which is both terrible and fascinating
Or maybe the London Beer Flood of 1814, when a vat of porter burst.
"On the afternoon of October 17th 1814 one of the iron rings around the tank snapped. About an hour later the whole tank ruptured, releasing the hot fermenting ale with such force that the back wall of the brewery collapsed. The force also blasted open several more vats, adding their contents to the flood which now burst forth onto the street. More than 320,000 gallons of beer were released into the area. This was St Giles Rookery, a densely populated London slum of cheap housing and tenements inhabited by the poor, the destitute, prostitutes and criminals.
The flood reached George Street and New Street within minutes, swamping them with a tide of alcohol. The 15 foot high wave of beer and debris inundated the basements of two houses, causing them to collapse. In one of the houses, Mary Banfield and her daughter Hannah were taking tea when the flood hit; both were killed."