The Spokesman Review, Wednesday, May 21, 1980
"Once a quiet little agricultural town, Ritzville has been turned overnight into a Sahara of volcanic ash, and the last refuge for thousands of travelers trapped on the roads Sunday when Mount St. Helens violently erupted.
"While the rest of Eastern Washington received only 1/4 of an inch to one inch of ash, Ritzville, sixty miles southwest of Spokane, was buried under 4 to 6 inches of the fine debris. In spots, the ash has drifted as high as two feet. The city is in a state of disaster."
Lynn Krogh and I had a delightful field trip to Ritzville recently and I took this picture in the railroad museum. This is a scene of downtown Ritzville! I did first think it was snow. Then I read the blurb.
Remembering this day, as many of us do, I learned that the total ash spread over an area of 22,000 square miles with far-away Oklahoma and Minnesota receiving some. Before compaction by rainfall, the total ash deposited was equivalent to a football field piled with ash 150 miles deep.
Ritzville, with 2-4 inches, and Yakima, with 4-6 inches, and little Lind, with 6 inches, were the hardest hit Eastern Washington towns. Ephrata and Othello each received 3 inches. Google states that Spokane received one-half inch but my memory surely remembers more than that.
What are your memories of May 18, 1980? Even if you were not living in Washington then, did the news impact you or your family?
No comments:
Post a Comment