Scientists issue stark warning over US's deadliest volcano that could devastate towns with no notice

While we're all worried about World War Three erupting, it's worth keeping an eye on some more natural disasters as well.

Throughout history, we have seen a multitude of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis which can sometimes prove just as deadly as a human conflict, and now scientists in the US are warning about the potential for one of the country's most dangerous volcanoes to cause a lot of damage.

Although the Mount St Helens volcano in Washington State is home to one of the deadliest eruptions in recent memory, killing 57 people, flattening 250 miles of forest in the process, it's actually another active stratovolcano in Washington that the scientists are worried about.

Mount Rainier, located in the Cascade Range, could potentially obliterate three local towns and claim the lives of over 60,000 people in a matter of minutes, if it were to erupt.

Lahars from the volcano could devastate three local towns in as little as 30 minutes (Getty Stock)

Although volcanologists these days usually have a pretty good idea of when a volcano is about to erupt, it's not just an eruption which could prove to be deadly for the three towns, as they are all directly in the path of where a lahar could strike.

Lahars are violent, fast-moving mudflows which can form rapidly in the case of storms, heavy rainfall or landslides, particularly on Mount Rainier where glaciers and unstable volcanic rock is rife.

Geophysicist Andy Lockhart told publication Popular Mechanics: “[No-notice lahars are] the thing that goes bump in the night. It creeps me out."

National Autonomous University of Mexico volcanologist Lizeth Caballero García, added that lahars can ‘grow and dilute’ and are a ‘complex phenomena that change a lot during transport.’

Although experts have spent years researching how to improve warning systems, so people can get out on time, ‘no-notice lahars’ can occur without warning, and therefore, are very hard to predict.

Volcanic mudflow can be impossible to stop (Getty Stock)

These can happen without an eruption or major earthquakes, experts say. In the past, factors such as dam failures and heavy thunderstorms have started fatal lahars worldwide.

Lahars were the culprit in one of the most notorious eruptions in human history when 20,000 people perished in the Colombian town of Armero, which was left woefully unprepared when the volcanic mudflow hit in 1985, with a 13-year-old girl's face becoming the haunting image that is associated with the disaster.

Mount Rainier has erupted in the past and is widely considered to be one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the US, since scientists are pretty convinced of its potential to erupt again.

Fortunately, thee most significant eruption in its history happened over 5000 years ago, causing 2 to 3 km3 of 'mainly hydrothermally altered material from the volcano's summit and northeast slope to slide away,’ USGS reports.

So you could certainly argue that its due a big eruption, and we can only pray that if the natural disaster does occur, that people are evacuated in time and that the lahars don't do as much damage as we know they are capable of.