Mt. Pelee, Martinique 1902
St. Pierre, Martinique was called the “Paris of the Caribbean” it was a bustling city with a vibrant culture. It was on the coast and had a busy harbor and plenty of sugar and rum for export. But all of that came to an end in 1902. St. Pierre was located a mere 7 km from Mt. Pelee. There were small signs of an impending eruption but most were not understood by residents. There were small tremors in April 1902 and there were a few clouds of sulfurous fumes. Other than that, there was the mysterious appearance of a lake in the caldera and the break in an underwater telegraph cable.
Then on May 2nd, 1902 there was a small eruption. Those who saw it said that the top of the mountain seemed to catch fire and start spewing rocks. The mountain fumed for several days and people from the countryside near the volcano fled to St. Pierre. On May 5th, a lahar destroyed a sugar processing plant, killing 2 dozen people. Insects and vipers slithered down from the mountain, their delicate balance upset by the rumblings of the volcano. The serpents and bugs killed people and animals alike, even as soldiers patrolled the streets shooting the poisonous snakes.
On May 8th, the volcano erupted. Mt. Pelee shot hot gas and debris through the town of St. Pierre, killing everyone. Nearly every one of the 30,000 citizens were killed. One man survived because he was locked in an underground cell, one resident survived by making it onto a boat in the water and another just on the outskirts of town managed to live as well. The entire town was leveled with the debris cloud traveling at 100 m/s and the town was set ablaze for several days after the eruption. Ships burned and sank into the harbor and it was days before rescuers were able to come close enough to view the destruction. It was this eruption that led scientists to discover pyroclastic flow and its potential devastating effects.