Summary

Source CONUS Archive
Record ID 185135
Story Slug Volcano 20 Years
Location Mt St Helens, WA
Format PKG
Date 5/22/2000
Archive Time 37:16
TRT 3:29
Supers Mt. St. Helens, August 1998 May 18, 1980, 8:32 AM] Richard Waitt, USGS Leslie Davis, Survivor Jim Hyde, Reporting NATSOTS
Video Description (PHOTOS TAKEN FROM NORTHEAST OF THE MOUNTAIN DURING ERUPTION ARE NOT LICENSABLE) CHOPPER FLYING TOWARD MT ST HELENS, AERIALS OF LAVA DOME, PUMIC PLANE, VARIOUS SHOTS OF MT., FILE FOOTAGE OF MT. BLOWING UP, VARIOUS SHOTS OF ERUPTION AND RUSHING ASH, LONGSHOT OF EXPLOSION, AERIALS OF MUD FLOOD PUMICE AND GAS, HOUSE IN RIVER, BUILDINGS GOING UNDER BRIDGE, REFUSE IN THE RIVER, SHIPPING CHANNEL PLUGGED, HORSE SHAKING OFF PUMICE, HIGHWAY PUMICE AND CARS COLLIDING, REPORTER STANDUP, SOT W/ANALYST, GEOLOGISTS STUDYING SYSTEM, HARRY TRUMAN WHO DIED, MOUNTAIN SMOKE, SOT W/SURVIVOR, AERIAL OF PICKUP TRUCK COVERED WITH PUMICE, SHOES, SOT W/SURVIVOR, HOUSE AND WALKSHOT, CHOPPER SEARCHING FOR SURVIVORS, GEOLOGIST STUDYING WRECKAGE, REPORTER, CRATER SMOKING, VARIOUS SHOTS OF CRATER SMOKING.
Script LEAD: 'WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE MOUNTAIN BLEW?' IS A QUESTION OF PERSONAL HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE, LIKE THE DAY JFK WAS SHOT, MAN WALKED ON THE MOON OR THE DOW JONES HIT TEN THOUSAND. NORTHWESTERNERS WHO LIVED THROUGH THE MAY 18, 1980 ERUPTION OF MT. ST. HELENS WON'T FORGET. AND AS JIM HYDE REPORTS, PEOPLE NEW TO THE VOLCANO STORY ARE LEARNING FROM ONE GIGANTIC SCIENCE EXPERIMENT. (TAKE PKG) SCRIPT: SOT ((...(AIR 12 in foreground/flying toward crater)...)) THE BEST WAY TO SEE`MT ST HELENS IS FROM THE CO-PILOT'S SEAT OF AIR 12 ON A LATE SUMMER MORNING: A SWING AROUND THE LAVA DOME, THE PUMICE PLAIN, SPIRIT LAKE. SEE THE NEWEST ECO-SYSTEM OF THE NATIONAL VOLCANIC MOUNUMENT ABUILDING. NOW RECALL HOW IT BEGAN. (('...(eruption starts)...')) THESE PHOTOS, TAKEN FROM NORTHEAST OF THE MOUNTAIN, SHOWS THE CATACLYSM: ERUPTION, ENABLED BY MASSIVE LANDSLIDES. SOT ((...(ash pours out, full screen, nw viewpoint)...)) THE SLIDE AND LATERAL BLAST PUSHED MUCH OF THE MOUTAIN TOP DOWN INTO THE NORTH FORK OF THE TOUTLE RIVER . A SEARING COLUMN OF ASH, LIKE THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE FROM HELL, SOARED 14 MILES INTO THE SKY. DEBRIS FROM THE AVALANCHE FILLED THE VALLEY, SPILLED OVER SPIRIT LAKE AND INTO THE TWO RIDGES IMMEDIATELY NORTH OF THE MOUNTAIN. BY AFTERNOON, HOT PUMICE AND GAS FLOWED DOWN THE NORTH FLANKS OF THE VOLCANO. MUDLOWS OF MELTED SNOW AND GROUNDWATER FLOODED DOWN, A CEMENT LIKE TSUNAMI THAT SWEPT EVERYTHING: HUGE TREES, LOGGING EQUIPMENT, BUILDINGS DOWN THE TOUTLE VALLEY. SOT ((...(house crashes into bridge) ON INTO THE COWLITZ RIVER AND THEN INTO THE COLUMBIA ITSELF... DEBRIS FROM MSH CLOSED SHIPPING CHANNELS IN THE GREAT RIVER. WINDS PUSHED THE CLOUD TOWARD YAKIMA AND SPOKANE. DARKNESS AT NOON. CLOGGED ENGINES...LIMITED VISIBILITY... SOT ((...(car crashes in ash)...)) FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN POWER AND DURATION OF THE ERUPTION GRIPPED THE NORTHWEST. BUT DANGER FROM FURTHER VOLCANIC ACTIVITY GRADUALLY SUBSIDED. SOT (('from vantage points like this one, known as the sugar bowl, geologists are studying msh, this textbook on volcanoes, that continues writing itself.')) SOT (('...each one of those knots you see is a separate eruption. but it took 17 or 18 of 'em to grow the whole thing...')) RICHARD WAITT CAME TO THE MOUNTAIN IN MARCH, 1980, WITH DAVID JOHNSTON AND OTHER GEOLOGISTS, TRYING TO LEARN FROM IT. JOHNSTON DIED TRYING. HARRY TRUMAN DISAPPEARED TOO IN THE INTIAL SLIDES AND BLAST. BUT AS THE MOUNTAIN SPENT ITSELF, OTHERS SURVIVED. JIM SCYMANKY MADE IT, THOUGH HIS THREE LOGGING COMPANIONS DID NOT. ANOTHER RIDGE REMOVED FROM THE BLAST, LESLIE DAVIS, HER HUSBAND AND A FRIEND TOOK REFUGE IN THEIR PICKUP TRUCK. SOT (('...my husband jumped out just long enough to get that first snapshot. and that all. in thirty seconds it was dark and coming in on us...')) THE BLAST BROKE A WINDOW IN THE TRUCK, DOWNED TREES. THEY HAD TO WALK OUT, HOLDING HANDS, THROUGH THE ASH. [SOT (('...we couldn't stay there and die, cause we knew we'd be suffocated...')) 25 MILES AND TEN HOURS LATER, DAVIS SAYS THEY FOUND A RIDE HOME TO MOSSY ROCK, WASHINGTON. LATER THEY LEARNED THEIR SON IN LAW, FISHING CLOSER TO THE MOUNTAIN, WAS KILLED. LUCK. ((...(rescue helicopters)...)) RESCUE FLIGHTS CONTINUED FOR TWO WEEKS; BUT 57 PEOPLE WERE EVENTUALLY FOUND DEAD. EFFORTS TO REPAIR, COMMERCIALIZE, REVEGETATE AND DOCUMENT MT ST HELENS CONTINUED. IT WASN'T UNTIL JUNE THAT THE ASH AND WEATHER CLEARED ENOUGH TO SEE WHAT HAPPENED. SOT (('the black mountain set against the snowy white of its' sister cascade peaks is spectacular enough. but then a sweep into the crater itself, for the closest view anyone has had of the mountain building it's new dome, well it's just awesome.' )) 1400 FEED-DATE: 00MAY22 1400
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