The mountain erupted for a total of nine hours. The force of the eruption was 500 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima (“Mount St. Helens Erupts Video”). It also triggered the largest debris avalanche in recorded history. As a result of the eruption, the mountain’s peak dropped 1,313 feet which is 14% of its total elevation (“Mount St. Helens Erupts Video”). Spokane, Washington, located 250 miles away, was coated with ash as a result of the eruption. Washington worked to remove about 900,000 tons of ash from highways and roads. The eruption killed everything within 230 square miles including more than 11 million animals, 4 billion feet of lumber, and 57 people (“Mount St. Helens Erupts Video”). According to the Mount St. Helens Information Center, a study determined that an estimate of $1.1 billion by the International Trade Commission at the request of Congress regarding the cost of the destruction and damage from the eruption (“Mount St. Helens Eruptive