Pompeii: The Day of Destruction

The people of Pompeii had no idea what was coming. Mount Vesuvius had been quiet for eight

hundred years. Then on August 24th, 79 AD, it exploded with the force of a hundred

atomic bombs. Within minutes, a cloud of superheated gas shot fifteen miles into the sky.

The city was plunged into darkness. Ash rained down like snow. People ran through

the streets, covering their faces, gasping for air. But there was nowhere to hide.

A pyroclastic surge traveling at 450 miles per hour swept through the city, instantly killing

everyone in its path. In just eighteen hours, Pompeii vanished

under twenty feet of volcanic debris.