YouTube Gold: Mt. St. Helens Blows

Most of us have seen images of Pompeii at some point but if you haven't, Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. and buried Pompeii in ash.

It all seems very long ago and far away and of course it is.

More recently, Mount St. Helens erupted in Oregon in 1980 and while it fortunately affected less people - Pompeii was very close to the ocean and was bit of a Roman resort town whereas Mount St. Helens is in a relatively remote area - the massive 1980 eruption still claimed the lives of 57 people.

The explosion itself was incredible. The entire north face of the volcano was blown off. It blew ash across 11 states and five Canadian provinces and caused more than $3 billion dollars worth of damage.

This video shows the devastation, along with some other shots that give you a broad vision of just how incredibly powerful this eruption was. No one ever puts it quite like this, but some basic life advice?

Whether it’s Pompeii or Mt. St Helens...don’t live near volcanoes.