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On May 18, 1980, The lovely snow covered Mt. St. Helens exploded with unbelievable vengeance seldom witnessed by man. The explosion was similar to 50 large ocean freighters full of TNT going up at once, and more than 500 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. The mountain lost 1,277 feet of its top, causing a cloud of gas and debris to rise 63,000 feet above the earth. The hot ash heated nearby toutle river to over 90 degrees fahrenheit. The hot sweeping gas & ash sped down the north face at speeds up to 80 mph, burning and covering all life in its path, more than 1.5 cubic miles of the mountain had been removed. There was enough ash and dust to cover Manhattan island a depth of 28 stories. Many Washington towns & cities were left to dig out of the powdery volcanic ash and resume life as it was before that devastating eruption. |
