Mount St Helens 1980 Eruption

The Mount St. Helens Volcanic Eruption of 1980

The Mount St. Helens eruption kIlled 57 people, also injuring countless and leaving more than 200 homeless. The eruption also killed 7,000 big animals and millions of small creatures.

The eruption that rocked Washington was a pyroclastic flow containing no lava. The explosion was an explosive one that took off 1,300 feet of the volcano, leaving a giant crater.

Harry Trumman and his 16 cats were famous victims of the eruption. Harry owned a lodge at the base of the volcano, and decided to stay to witness the eruption.

When Mount St. Helens blew, earthquakes struck,the snow melted, resulting in massive floods, and rock and mud slid to cause devastating mudslides and landslides.

The eruption of Mount St. Helens lasted for 9 hours, and ash fell as far away as Oklahoma, 930 miles away.Citizens of Washington were given 2 days to clean their property of ash. If it wasn't clean, they were fined a large amount of money.

The Mount St. Helens eruption destroyed 250 square miles of timber, damaged countless homes, and buried the Toutle valley. This all cost about 1.1 billion dollars, plus 950 miilion dollars for emergency services,tallying as the most destructive and most costly eruption on the continental states.