40 years of recovery

Today is an important day in American history. We’re standing on the Boundary trail at Johnston Ridge in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. Forty years ago today, 110,000 acres within Gifford Pinchot National Forest were set aside to memorialise the deadliest and most destructive volcanic eruption in the United States. For nearly nine hours on May 18, 1980, the Mount St. Helens erupted, forever changing the Washington landscape. The volcanic event started at roughly 8:30 on a Sunday morning with a 5.1 magnitude earthquake. This triggered what is known as a ‘lateral eruption,’ which means the lava blast comes out of the side of the volcano, rather than the top. The initial blast shaved more than a thousand feet off the mountain’s elevation, resulting in a massive avalanche and the destruction of about 150 square miles of the surrounding forest. When the event ended, 57 people had died, 200 homes and almost 200 miles of nearby highway had been destroyed.
© Don Geyer/Alamy