re: #805 MandyManners

I moved to Seattle not long after St. Helens blew. I sometimes worried what would happen if I were there if Rainier blew.

Messy wouldn’t begin to describe it. If Rainier blew laterally, like St. Helens, it could wipe out all the local communities nearby in an instant. If it blows its top, it could still wipe out the local communities with lahars and mudslides that could reach all the way to Puget Sound. A million people are within the danger zone there, and if it hits in the winter or spring, the damages increase because of snowmelt combining with the ash.