BY RHIANNON AND RACHAEL

An eruption of hot volcanic ash rose 80,000 feet (24,400m) into the sky. At the same time, ice, snow and several glaciers which were on the volcano melted forming a large series of lahars that reached as far as the Columbia River ( nearly 50 miles to the south west)

 It was the biggest landslide in history.  Landslide went east and west.

Before Mount st Helens is skamania country, washington, U.s. It is in the cascade range. The rock about is 40,000 years old.

Before After

After Mount st Helens erupted on may the 18 th Mount St Helens has an elevation of 2549m (8364ft)

Warning signs From January 1975 through early 1980 only 44 earthquakes were located within 35km (22mi) of the volcano. A "bulge" developed on the north side of Mount St. Helens as magma pushed up within the peak. People were evacuated from a 5 mile radius.

What was the impact? 557 deaths $$1.1billion in property damage AAsh fell in 11 states TThe large lahars reached nearly 50 miles (80km) to the southwest. 2200 houses destroyed 227 bridges destroyed TThe phyroclastic flow was nearly 300mph-20 miles 2230 square miles of forest was destroyed

It was about 24 hours after the eruption before any help could happen. Spirit lake got dammed by debris which meant that it would start to flood. To prevent this from happening people pumped the water out until they were able to drain some of the water through pipes.