how did washington manage the 1980 mt st helens eruption?

Answer 1

I was in tacoma Washington when it happened. We recieved ashes from probably 100 miles away. It looked like big grey flakes of snow. We were in the airfoce at the time and the families of the military were on standby for vacuation if it reached the military base of McCord Airforce, Tacoma wa. Use google earth and check out the distance. I know the ash cloud hung around for days.
It was a very scary experience. Everyone had to just sit and wait to see what the next step was depending on the severity of the situation.

Answer 2

But even to this day, controversy bubbles just beneath the surface. It is well known that local government was pressured by logging companies to make the restricted areas smaller than recommended by the USGS. Millions of dollars in revenue were going to be lost if loggers could not get in to retrieve lumber. Even locals living near the mountain balked at the limited access they had to their property. In the weeks before the eruption on May 18th, the mountain had become unusually quiet and many people believed the danger had past. They were tired of the disruption to their lives and wanted the blockades removed. In hindsight, many more people would have survived had the federal and local government heeded the warnings of David Johnston and the other USGS officials and made the restricted zones larger. For some, luck was on their side. Had the mountain erupted only a few hours later, the forests surrounding the area would have been filled with the sounds of chainsaws run by the thousands of Weyerhauser employees usually at work near the mountain on weekends.

Unfortunately, we may never know if there were other victims who chose the wrong day to stray too close to the mountain and were never counted as victims. At least one survivor who had been camped just outside the restricted area told rescuers that he had seen people on the ridge below, inside the restricted area, just before the eruption. Who were these people? Did anyone even know they were there? In the book Mount St Helens: The Eruption and Recovery of a Volcano by Rob Carson, Skamania County Sheriff William Closner states, "People went over, under, through, and around every time we tried to restrict access to what we believed were dangerous areas. There were even maps sold showing how to get around our blockades on the mountain." Because of the severity of the devastation near the mountain it may never be known if 57 is the final tally.

Answer 3

Most people living in the area was evacuated before hand. Also the area where it happened is not that populated to begin with.

Most of the damage was to the surrounding forests which if you look at it today is coming back.

Answer 4

Dan e pretty accurate also it was an old man which he owned a hotel and they were telling him to live and he would not and he is under 500 feet of lava.

Answer 5

Hi Blue Eyes,

It is called rolling with the punches.

Darryl S.

Answer 6

They did the only thing they could do, get the hell out of the way until it was over.

Answer 7

I'm pretty sure that GOD probably managed the eruption!lol

Answer 8

I'm not convinced that it was a managed event

Answer 9

a mutton vindallo!