Interesting story. They had a somewhat similar thing happen to the Bundaberg Rum Distillery here in Australia. In 1939 the distillery caught fire from a lightning strike so to prevent a massive explosion they tipped the rum vats over and let the rum run all through the streets and into the nearby river. People were collecting the stuff in any sort of container they could find. I don't know what happened to the molasses they had there though, they have massive store houses that hold millions of litres of the stuff. It gets pumped into them underground from the sugar mill next door.