anyone ever hear of "lahar"?

[BrianFromWA]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahar

I went to the Washington State emergency control center last week for a familiarization and was intrigued/shocked to see that a bunch of their procedures centered on this thing called "lahar". Evidently the mud slides off of Mt. Rainier every 100 years or so (I know the wiki said 500), but regardless we're in the "sweet spot" for another lahar slide. Then they have the map projections of where the lahar would go...basically a 20-50-foot high wall of mud traveling at 40-60mph down the Green, White and Puyallup river valleys and ending up in the Port of Tacoma and the Kent valley. And the only thing they have up are some warning sirens and the emergency broadcast system.

Is this something they talk about in schools, or community meetings, etc? I keep hearing about flood danger and volcano danger and earthquake danger, but a 20-foot mudslide coming at me at 60mpg is a lot scarier than volcano ash or a 7.0 quake

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Lahar Odom

but he married the wrong Kardashian if he wants a mud slide.

 

[MARIS61]

Rahal spelled backwards.

4+ quake at Mt St Helens today.

 

[maxiep]

I had heard of the mudslides, but not the name of them. A good friend of mine lives in Maple Valley and there are signs for evacuation all over the place.