Remember where you were when this happened 40 years ago today?
At 8:32 a.m. PDT, Mount St. Helens, a volcanic peak in southwestern Washington, suffers a massive eruption, killing 57 people and devastating some 210 square miles of wilderness.
On the morning of May 18, Mount St. Helens was shaken by an earthquake of about 5.0 magnitude, and the entire north side of the summit began to slide down the mountain. The giant landslide of rock and ice, one of the largest recorded in history, was followed and overtaken by an enormous explosion of steam and volcanic gases, which surged northward along the ground at high speed. The lateral blast stripped trees from most hill slopes within six miles of the volcano and leveled nearly all vegetation for as far as 12 miles away. Approximately 10 million trees were felled by the blast.
Gosh, I was in like 2nd grade. Don't remember the event itself but do remember having a little bottle of ash that Papa and Jojo brought back from a vacation.
Nasty, nasty event demonstrating the mighty power of nature.
Interesting biographies of 3 who perished that day:
Grace & Peace & Love to you all -
Matt