Loading...
05/19/80 City Council Minutes;` The regular May 19th meeting of the City Council was cancelled because of the eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state. Voluminous clouds of volcanic ash spread throughout the state of Montana. Fallout, which reached the Flathead at approximately 9:00 p.m. Sunday evening, was most severe in the northwest region. Because of limited visability and the health hazard, Governor Judge declared a state of emergency, thus businesses and governmental agencies performed on a standby basis with only essential services provided by skeletal crews. Schools were closed, traffic limited and industrial activities were curtailed to fundamental operations. This remained in effect for three days. Following is the story of the devastation caused: I r" tis -�t 09�7 I I Ii."T¢}CpI haslahouse, and a trailer that was toppled:byamudslide L f Jh Mud and lags saOaahiiing homesalong the Cowlitz River on ,tistiwas-hiddeTrhy rain -clouds Butas I would say it would be, if'you'll exclwerels down the road. There Was -aroar,1l Wgiiiki $per flew at treetop level, he was the -expression, a tourist attraction that ! a jet plane approaching, and a lot of snoll ed by the colorless landscape. would equal the Grand Canyon." ! ping and poppmg:'Those were the trelb T his l-hr 15 min -tour, Carter ex- Mount St. Helens is something of ea f We got out fast i> - Worn old -reporters: "The moon looks baby among volcanoes. It was born a mere' j On the mountain were several gear ` a golf course compared to what!s; up 37,000 years ago,''which is scarcely more, j ogists;,.hikers '-an&campers:- Those .AM " At'a meeting with townspeople than an instant in geological timc,`The,- 1 rose with the sun reported that -the moilill fi ada;ouver;' the President was being mountain last erapted. in 1857, when ;the ing'wasexceptionally quiet; no birds saV y experts on the econdinic dam- area was•an uninhabited wildernessJ Last. I Oddly enough; when the mountain Nag e eruption wherl !Governor Ray week;'s hlowup ra ` ed asmitdtlling,-ats abf, a [many -of =the surbivors never,hea'rd theta tea. "This tsrall veryffiteresting," came eruptions ga 'But, the people wlto I plosion, perhaps because concusa�d - sai "but the tap prigrity, is people." stumbled off V. -Helens''s'lo, 8 or werae; waves- can travel faster than sound; I y C'arteri_ "What da'you need sr plucked to safety by he 'cop is, told twkes' ; the time the sound: reached them, t ' Rayspelled out her answer: that rivaled wartime survivor stones were too shakmto notice it. OAST-E-I In fact„,°befor, leaving Bruce Nelson and' Sue Ruff dphrilgton, DC Carter had declared f the blast had, occurred 24,luairA1 nearby Kelso, had-: pitched tents at tleir6ntain's vrcrrnty al -federal disaster ' er,it could have wiped out a cr . Green Rivercampgroundwithfburyo, kvag residents,elilgible for low' *in- some 200< Weyerhaeuser Co 1© ,friends. On Saturday they hiked [hro eral.loans to rebuild their shaC who were to'begin felling trees, e- � 'what Ruff called "An enchanted forest s and businesses. In addition, a.m. ;Monday. Many.ofthe loggers 't7.: moss and pine" and -then -set up tents r oddly, suggesfed`that residents with their families near, the north -miles from the peak. On Sunday Ne' entlially make samem=Pftom the Tputle %Ar i� LoggerGoorge, �� - Ruff and Tern Grall were �'Wgi strophe Said, be! "Pebble will was at home when the mountain g morning chores when they felt a seari to all. over the world to pbselve red. Said he "I heard the goldallgest 5q,- -wind Recalled Nelson `We: were j 3' essiteliess of the formofhlattlre like i01n0 le tlpendltlgg a btltlkh tlA++ r •ceokirt breakfast when my biidtiy's 2,19811 ed" dlAtent-,to r.Gal e'Xa- - Then Nels ._.. adPl wrappgd his arms„...turned into a I15-mule, ten-hour trek ac as trCeround them and!from the mountain, over what, Nel ,d down. Sal'• elson:'i"Wecalls a "white-hot:desd#**0^ (Then. Sue and I soon joined up with a 60-year,old:m rout;ofithelash, which was•' The, three kept up, their spirits-;by;si it burned ouie: hgnds.. Our .fall -of mud. I td_&S'ue,we, •` :� i �+:', slit: -" ha)din and she: said, SNon hey crawled out from under- rsrrape - tash,, they,began:to gag from cand hadto;.cover their 1: ` swcatsbirts; `stones' 'r ttt: l ds to to, at as as well. f-44POn•, ,.•.M 19, and his friend Vcd 'ergen, 20, of Tacoma, Wash.,-hud been camping next :to a, good,Mko_ - hole in,the :'Toutle River, about 2440W - r,,.rne. t�.e-✓ Spinr takexux,•p {' heat Jest the darkness be�,: o �* x WIT I H ` 1 lik Nelsott�nd Ruff• be ,• � e„ NE , oking fontherirfriends. a s mfm�dvogl)-P They sa butashesand I4iwhere Varner's - beeni she rall later were found de The' wa i members4futhacamp>' Wgroup Dan: kt F P t E G H I'f G T 01- s, Sr i J ib ;_. " tart y and 1Eriant'Thomas, 1, ere alive i IHurrted: skin hung': Nose' from s erS to hiShnads; and he was O,k: a 'unable to walk Thom- o a e rzoset xi e e ] anglbhmsbOttams in: TIME•MePbr Pal JR h heaJbeen' at,hd' L. A 1 41PiMfil. � �. �� s� was once prime fish and game azea mountain's flanks will find nearly all 1 P i I �R rr Ift 5 gar, wiped out e , ri er 1 and radius!of s ' .crater. The, rivers and state -tutu, -1 F 4€f , 11 s Ili ia, �s,�a : °�L hatcheries near the mountain hatwtQlg 1.,kl ;1 rjozens 1p�l ruined as breeding grounds for st S s n seS up s -trout and -Chinook salmon Said' ial SO- Ei !t r`ed:.oyi7tll?.� W14on,ananemployeeofthe Wash 'State i department of game- Weluw l minions om nsn. w rien ignr the aw9 rje ,1 cover? Replied Wharton; 28, "N'o , lifetime.,' - Crops within three miles of the :#' etd were destroyed Downwind „!in -a:tgg lar swath stretching 20,0 miles.to,tlA*ept, about to%d of the I crops suffered':"� damage £romthe Oust. Several field Of IJ�AP n 'i ��yymuuf%€qfe -I pij i {Jr, e1F,1i�tly� dr €rj i€f Voll i�ooM1G � € :i • _ 11 • � , €: i i1T d g khn�Ij1L FnoIII. 1�Y'E:�oF�n llaLTil i��w ie�-orb • • .. a ,• n. , 1 akma, Wash,:;: into a ghost town Fanoark hill o*ing ash off grapesin,Wapato,,Wash. ICj l' i i; i i yYil orkmen shoveling ashoff Yakima's streets - A w . attempt to reapsome good from the ill wind iht mix with ash'' iii tbe�W",r�ater, jammed the Barley an t"eps tavern for stranded,motorists sought refuge.in Ri EL sludge that would' lit3, sal y "eruption specials,',' $1 p't`cc66 of beer. In ville. Schools and churches were [urn �,fut-llr Pcce`a,irnma i"F,;nu Yak;ma which wav'coa� el',£with half an intoshelters; gl people slept onthe fl lout WashidgCdi.,Iaha `and $cials cautioneU inq" 'usts''to roads except foY 1pcies he ash was only afelighiilt rfcore effective ,Rol vay of getting rid Of it diin lained Yak - out;, ma„Mayor-Betty.E&nozidson:. "Wet ash was .urns vito a slurry thaf,islust,about impos- of d ible tp shovel." tort ed c ne of the 'tiardes'$'h 7n'towns out - at e rarm,,- `H w0- estiinal m ,of the resi brroe.A the _am Miller's once meticu' -.diet ranch style house., , is fr in a desert The laW4" - almost _:completely. - will, g..Qpmmunity College: 'i have, a Branches were trgKon from two formerly havi �m sneezing a lot and I feel icky. flowering hawthornes. There was a 4xl%,- er of W ;is out with the hose washing off drift on the patio. Said Mrs. Miller leag,- the 9M&tAgp all the time.,, ing" on her snow shovel. `You Aught to see, Hel( na�rfullmap (pop. 21,000), students the inside. You caq't keep the dust out. ..' ond. ,kgfin--Wa$bi,ngton State. University 00I*MiMe. Restaurant, and many angersfor -.a night or Iwo.. - iormng. Adams County She - - ien let-75 motorists try. to d a compressor at the-fireho ) blow the cars' air cleaners fly ,` dy 20 made it. wenty-fivefisp Rtzville. The rest were s dghway and had to seek re ;. top. During the worst of 5 could,run only about': half' y 9 Ritzville area before stallm i is County: Auditor Kim Ye that or up Ritzville a the county will cost $2milli budget. is only twice, that -suit. i - .itzville's streets, Sheriff Soo d a fire'truck to spray the a y I! ioad grader could -push,it:mM4l; likes. They, in turn, were, shod road crews. But Snowden p itwill,be-ayearbeforetheto, ;h.,, nd cnths ahead, residentsof Ri large slice of the Northwest w I with the ash,,a visible remm anic forces of nature that sha To volcano experts Mount a u y be a baby and its eruption se But to the people in its„pathc iU4411101 u, l