On a clear Sunday morning, on the 18th May 1980, Mount St Helens 1) erupted after 123 years of silence. The eruption was the deadliest volcanic 2) event in the history of the United States. At exactly 8 32am, an 3) explosion so huge it was heard hundreds of miles away, occurred. Tons of red hot 4) lava emerged from the volcano's 5) crater and raced down the mountainside. Every building within a 600 m radius 6) was destroyed. Over 1.5 million tons of poisonous 7) gases were released into the atmosphere. 8) Ash clouds darkened the sky and 9) blocked out the sun. Geologists and volcanologists did not 10) predict the disaster.
