Mount Saint Helens First Hand Account- Tom Roe The eruption of Mount Saint Helens impacted thousands the day of its eruption, and the weeks following. The lives of everyday people were drastically changed; cars caught fire due to engine failure, trees hundreds of years old were flung down like toys, more than 540,000 tons of ash was dispelled by the volcano, and flew as far as Minnesota. The eruption is still fresh in the mind of many people such as Tom Roe. Mr. Roe lived in Nine Mile Falls, Washington, and on May 18, 1980 he and his friends were having a barbeque cookout in his backyard, in celebration of his wife’s upcoming projected due date. As they were cooking the sky became dark, which the group presumed to be the result of a storm.
