Remembering Mount St. Helens 38 Years Later

It was 38 years ago Friday that Mount St. Helens erupted, sending ash to 11 different states and 5 Canadian provinces.

Terri Moncrief of Ephrata tells our news partner iFiber One News what she remembers from the event. "The community came together tremendously, everybody helping one another getting shoveled out. Getting their cars in order, trying to hose things off. It was a really big deal in our community."

There were sunny skies that day before the eruption. Monica Bergman of Ephrata recalls being outside watching the clouds of ash roll in.

"We actually wanted to play in it. It came down like streaks of rain and poofed on the ground. It was dark for three days."

Bergrman says that also ended the school year on the spot. "No more school. They canceled it that day until the follow fall."

There were 57 people that died as a result of the eruption. At the time, it caused $1.1 billion in property damage.