I only live 20 miles from Mount St. Helens will you please pray. Photos and pictures Articles / In The News Date: Oct 01, 2004 - 01:36 AM | ||||
  My Dear Friends: Mount St. Helens is only about 20 miles from my house. They are having earthquakes about every 2 minutes now. They have just raised the alert to the highest level they have. And some people are saying it is going to blow again. I don't mean to bother you but will you please post a prayer for us. Two days ago a bear came down from the hills and tried to get into a neighbors house. I wonder if it knew the Mountain was going to blow. SEATTLE, Washington : Scientists tracking renewed earthquake activity at Mount St. Helens raised their warning level on Saturday to a Level 3-Volcano Alert, signaling a second eruption is brewing right now. Officials evacuated a visitor center at the Johnston Ridge Observatory about five miles from the volcano's crater as a safety precaution. A Level 3 warning means that there is a potential hazard to life and property in the area, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said. Mount St. Helens volcano, which roared suddenly to life on Friday with a giant plume of steam and ash, remains dangerous and could erupt again at any time, scientists warned on Saturday. Tom Pierson, geologist with the US Geological Survey (USGS), said an eruption was "imminent," explaining that imminent meant anytime within 24 hours. He said the threat level for St. Helens was raised to "volcano alert," the highest eruption risk level. On a scale of 1-5 the 1980 eruption was a 5. Today we are now expecting a 3 or 4 this time. "An eruption could happen right now, in a few days or a few weeks," said Catherine Puckett, a USGS spokeswoman in Seattle. Pierson said federal authorities were evacuating everyone from a 8 km radius around the mountain, including the USGS Johnson Ridge Observatory. That is only a few miles from my house
USGS personnel, reporters and curiosity seekers were evacuated from the observatory to the Coldwater Ridge Visitors Center several miles to the north, which the USGS said was safe for the moment. Pierson said a long string of small earthquakes recorded in and under the mountain early Saturday had subsided to a low, constant rumble by late afternoon. "They've moved into just pure tremor," he said. The steam and volcanic ash that spewed thousands of feet in the air on Friday had stopped then started again this Saturday, Pierson said. "There is a very good chance there will be an eruption, probably sooner than later," said Pierson. The eruption blew off the upper third of the mountain, leaving a gaping crater 400 metre deep, 2.7 km long and 2 km wide. The 1980 blast sent clouds of volcanic ash high into the atmosphere, where jet streams carried it as far as the US eastern seaboard 4,800 km away. Towns and cities throughout the Pacific Northwest were buried in gray ash. The flash snow melt on the mountain triggered floods and mudslides, sending streams and rivers over their banks and destroying infrastructure for hundreds of miles around. Molten lava flows devastated forests and mountain meadows, creating a vast wasteland of mud, magma and ash. Fifty-seven people died that day. SEATTLE, Sept. 30 -- The number of small earthquakes at Mount St. Helens increased on Thursday while the volcano's lava crust shifted further, government scientists said, keeping the volcano's alert status at the second-highest level. There is a 70 percent chance of an eruption or explosion of the volcano's lava crust over the next few days, said Willie Scott, a scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey. Television trucks line up in sight of Mount St. Helens, which scientists say will likely erupt in the next few days. (Elaine Thompson -- AP) Any eruption would be small compared with the one that dramatically changed the shape of the mountain in May 1980, killed 57 people, destroyed more than 200 homes and flattened acres of evergreen forest in eastern Washington. Small earthquakes were occurring at the rate of three to four per minute, with larger ones of magnitude 3 to 3.3 detected every three to four minutes, the USGS said in a statement. The lava dome that formed after the 1980 eruption has moved 2.5 inches since Monday. The eruption on May 18, 1980, blew off the top of the volcano, reducing its summit from 9,677 feet to 8,364 feet. Any potential eruption would probably be similar to a minor 1986 eruption that disrupted the lava dome in the crater, Scott said. Ash from the 1980 eruption billowed across North America and was carried as far east as Oklahoma. "Anytime there's ash in the air where there is aircraft, it is a concern," Scott said. Volcanic ash can make aircraft engines stall. Air traffic officials said they were prepared to divert air traffic in case of an ash-spewing eruption. Government scientists are also conducting daily helicopter flights over the volcano's horseshoe-shaped crater to try to detect any signs of gases associated with the movement of magma, or molten rock. So far, they have reported nothing out of the ordinary. Seismologists said there was no connection between activity at Mount St. Helens and a strong earthquake near Parkfield, Calif., or a smaller series of quakes in Alaska earlier this week.
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