For those of us in the local area, the news has been taking a trip down memory lane.
30 years ago
May 18, 1980 at 8:32 a.m.
Mt. St. Helens erupted
On a show I watched last night, it was reported that the eruption, which lasted 4 days, was the equivlient of having an Atomic Bomb going off every second . . . or 27,000 bomb blasts in that 4 day period.
The initial blast traveled 25 miles in less than 30 seconds.
This video shows the eruption in real time: [1:00 into the video]
24 Megatons of thermal energy was released in the intial blast.
Over 1.5 metric tons of sulfar dioxide was released into the atmosphere.
70% of the ice cap was instantly melted creating "lahars" (volcantic mudflows) which took with it the forested areas in its path. The debris in the rivers clogged the Columbia River. The water level dropped from 40 feet to 9 feet in less than 4 hours. Merchant ships were stranded in the low water.
The "eruption column" rose 80,000 ft, and dumped ash in over 11 states.
All life was destroyed in the blast zone . . . 57 lives were lost, 250 homes, 46 bridges, 50 miles of railways, 185 miles of highway damaged/detroyed. 165,000 animals were killed (70,000 big game: elk, deer, bear) all birds, small animals. 12,000,000 Chinock / Coho salmon in hatcheries, rivers, streams.
Day turned to night.
Another "blast" from the past:
LOCAL NEWS COVERAGE -- KATU Joe's Vault (Scroll down to see video and news report)
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