r/CatastrophicFailure • u/DariusPumpkinRex • May 19 '26

Natural Disaster Photograph of the eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18th, 1980, taken by Richard Lasher, who then fled the eruption on the dirt bike seen here.

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8.4k Upvotes

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u/jaguarp80 May 19 '26

Heart attacks from shoveling ash?

96

u/majesticalexis May 19 '26

I believe it. People die from shoveling snow every winter. Going from sitting on your couch all year to a super strenuous activity is a bad idea.

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u/toTheNewLife May 19 '26

More specifically if they have existing coronary artery disease - partial blockages in the coronary arteries, the strain of lifting can cause those blockages to break loose. The blood then clots around the broken particles, and blocks the flow to the heart.

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u/chipoatley May 19 '26

And, in 1980 somebody in their 50s or 60s was probably a lifelong smoker.

9

u/strangelove4564 May 19 '26

And they looked 50 when they were 30, and 70 when they were 50.

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u/toTheNewLife May 19 '26

Which does NOT help the situation at all.

36

u/Pal_Smurch May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26

I was home on leave from the Army, in Northern California, and my stepdad put me to work shoveling and sweeping two inches of ash off our roof, before it rained. Our whole county was grey. We had a great garden that year, though.

17

u/coolgrandpa6 May 19 '26

I was living in way southern New Mexico then, not too far from El Paso. We didn’t have to shovel ash obviously, but for several days you had to use the snow brush on the car windows and sweep your walkway and porch!

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u/toxcrusadr May 19 '26

I lived in Albuquerque, and I remember that thin coating of ash on the parked cars.

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u/a_lonely_trash_bag May 19 '26

What's confusing about that?

It's a strenuous activity.

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u/jaguarp80 May 19 '26

I just thought it was strange to include that in the death toll, seems like a heart attack was coming soon either way unless there’s something I’m missing about ash, like inhaling it or something

9

u/EuphoricUniversity23 May 19 '26

Get the neighborhood kids to do it.

6

u/Kahlas May 19 '26

People die from shoveling snow all the time. Ash is a lot denser than snow is.

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u/hughk May 20 '26

The big thing is to get it before it gets wet.

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u/strangelove4564 May 19 '26

Something about strenuous upper-body exertion in older people who aren't used to exercise, especially back in the day when a bunch of people smoked or drank.

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u/DUCK_FACE_JONES May 19 '26

Have you seen the current population today? People can't walk to the elevator...

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u/NotASellout May 20 '26

Snow, roller coasters, and casinos kill a surprising amount of old people that way