Mt. Saint Helen 1980

On May 18, 1980, Mt. Saint Helens located in Skamania County finally erupted after months and months of small eruptions and warnings which indicated that the huge eruption was inevitable sooner or later. A magnitude of 5.1 earthquake rang the bell that indicated the start of the cataclysm. Shortly after the earthquake, disastrous volcanic eruption of Mt. Saint Helens occurred which was so devastating that the debris rose up 600 feet and stretched 14 miles out of the site of the volcanic eruption. On top of everything this humongous volcanic eruption caused a huge landslide known as lahars that swept over most of the area around the site. This volcanic eruption left 57 fatalities and 200 square miles of forest and 30 miles of State Route 504 burnt down. Even though this volcanic eruption was recorded to be one of the biggest explosion in the history of U.S but the fatalities weren’t as big as it would have been expected. This was because of the early cautions and warnings that the Mt. Saint Helens let out, such as: small volcanic eruption that indicated that a big one was yet to come; Mt. Saint Helens moving closer and closer to Seattle each month. Also the officials had most of the residence around the Mt. Saint Helens retrieve their belongings and evacuate the area on May 17, a day before the eruption. This kind of eruption is likely to occur in the same place, because there aren’t any other volcanically active, or has been active, mountains other than Mt. Saint Helens.