"Thursday 8 May was Ascension Day. The morning was calm, although a cloud of ash covered the sky over St Pierre. The governor, his wife and a small party of officials set off by boat for Le Prêcheur. They were never seen again.
... At 8:02 there was a blinding flash, and then a sound like the roar of thousands of cannons. A directed, low-angle blast, followed by a nuée ardente, left the summit by the little notch on the southwestern rim of the caldera, swept down the Rivière Blanche valley, rushed southwards beyond it at speeds estimated between 200km and 500km per hour, and at temperatures ranging between 200ºC and 450ºC, devastated an area of 58 [square] km, and overwhelmed St Pierre in less than two minutes. The blast and then the incandescent cloud of swirling ash, steam, and an emulsion of lava blocks, boulders, pumice, toxic gases, trees and masonry hurtled down the streets, into the houses, into the cathedral crowded with worshippers, and killed more than 28000 people in the space of two fatal breaths."
-Volcanoes, Alwyn Scarth
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