Published: 00:47 BST, 27 August 2026 | Updated: 00:47 BST, 27 August 2026
One of America's most dangerous volcanoes could one day unleash a disaster resembling the tsunami-like flash flood and landslide that devastated Nepal.
Washington's Mount Rainier is an active, heavily glaciated stratovolcano looming over more than 3.3 million people across the Seattle-Tacoma metro area, with ice-covered slopes capable of unleashing deadly torrents of mud and debris with little warning.
More than 60,000 residents live within the volcano's lahar danger zone, where fast-moving rivers of water, rock, mud and debris behave like wet concrete, bulldozing everything in their path within 15 minutes – and they occur with or without a volcanic eruption
Scientists have warned that landslides, heavy rainfall, melting glaciers or even small earthquakes could destabilize part of Mount Rainier, unleashing a deadly cascade through the surrounding river valley.
That is why the volcano was named one of the US Geological Survey's (USGS) highest priorities in terms of threat potential, despite it not producing a significant eruption in more than 1,000 years.
The events in Nepal on Wednesday, which have left at least 95 people dead and hundreds missing, provided a grim warning of the potential destruction which experts fear could take place in the Pacific Northwest at any time.
The natural disaster is believed to have been triggered by an avalanche or glacier collapse which sent a huge chunk of ice roughly 2,000 feet wide falling down thousands of feet into the Lhende Khola river valley along the Nepal-Tibet border.
The giant ice shard mixed with water, rock and debris to create a sudden and powerful surge of muddy floodwater that rushed into the Bhote Koshi River, devastating the Rasuwa district of Nepal.
Scientists are warning that three Washington towns could be devastated within minutes if a massive volcanic mudflow suddenly roars down Mount Rainier during an eruption
The events in Nepal on Wednesday, which have left at least 95 people dead and hundreds missing, provided a grim warning of the potential destruction which experts fear could take place in the Pacific Northwest at any time
USGS has previously said: 'The volcano is not "due" for an eruption and we do not see any signs of a potential eruption at this time.'
However, the agency also noted that a devastating lahar could come without warning, citing the Electron Mudflow of 1500AD that was caused by a landslide on the volcano’s west flank.
Scientists have found no signs of a volcanic eruption taking place.
USGS set up a lahar detection and warning system on Mount Rainier in 1998, which uses sensors buried in the ground and tripwires along key river valleys that sense the vibrations of an approaching lahar and automatically alert emergency centers.
