I grew up in the Seattle-Tacoma region and routinely flew over the Cascades. It is unbelievable how much more massive Rainer is than Hellens, Adams, Hood, and so forth. Rainer is not just tall, but a mamoth in girth. If it blew in a fashion similar to Hellens in 1980
As Mariner points out, the real big problem is that part of the beauty of the North West (streams and rivers all over the place, lakes, mountains, ocean, and so forth) would be a serious issue for a huge eruption: All those beautiful hills and foothills are basically giant trenches and many of the cities are built in the valleys where the rivers run from the mountains to Puget Sound.
Think of Hellens and all the mud slides, but move it to a much bigger mountain (with huge glaciers) and much more centrally located to huge population centers. Hellens is out of the way (a good 2 hour trip from Tacoma) but Rainer is much closer. Seattle would probably be fine, but areas south could be in some danger.
Isn't that supposed to wipe out about 1/3 of the city if it ever blows?
There are a lot of cities in the area. Any in the immediate blast zone would be destroyed. With large mud flows cities in valleys that have rivers running through them that feed off the mountain could see significant destruction.
Better not blow. My girlfriend lives in Tacoma.
Good time to move out of Tacoma! It is a dump there anyhow
(Yeah, no love lost for Tacoma).
The biggest problem when Rainier erupts is likely to be the ensuing
lahars when the icecap melts. Quite a few towns will be washed away but they do have a warning system in place I believe so hopefully the loss of life won't be too bad?
Yep. Although on the warning system, I am not sure what good it would do for some. They would need to evacuate the immediate blast zone area (how big is that is anyone's guess), but even with an eruption getting hundreds of thousands of people out of the valley cities quickly is impossible. Grid lock in the Seattle-Tacoma area is HORRIBLE. Getting 30 miles at peak traffic times on I-5 can take 90-120 minutes. And where would they all go? My parents live in a hill (about 400 feet above a river that runs at the base) and there are 2 roads up the hilly area. The logistics of getting people to higher ground requires not only a place for them but also a means to get them there.
Transportation in the North West is pretty poor. Of course this is all worse case scenario. It would be interesting to see some number crunching on a Hellens size event and the outcome. The mudslides may not be big enough to completely flood the valleys and only the immediate river ways and low areas around them vacated. Of course Rainer is bigger with large amounts of water, so it could theoretically be much worse as well.
Maybe this will give some peeps a good scare (and nothing more!) and housing costs will go down and I can move back to the area
