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August 24th was a catastrophic day for the city of Pompeii. Mount Vesuvius erupted in the early afternoon while Pompeii's citizens were going about their daily routines. The sound was deafening, and could be heard many miles away.
At about 1:30PM, citizens saw the volcano erupt. A huge cloud of ash and debris was rising from the volcano's crater. 30 minutes later, Pompeii was in a state of darkness, as the cloud of ash came tumbling through the city, and ash, pebbles, and rocks started falling from the sky. Citizens were terrified. Almost all of the people who lived in Pompeii were leaving the city for safety. Some, however chose to stay.
11:30pm - Citizens of Pompeii could see the volcano undergoing a change. Something was going horribly wrong. A landslide of hot gas and rock started speeding down the mountain. Luckily, this landslide, known as a pyroclastic flow did not head for Pompeii. Instead, this flow raced toward Herculaneum and destroyed the city.
This was not the last pyroclastic flow that Pompeians would see. An hour later, a second pyroclastic flow headed down the volcano, but did not reach Pompeii. Four hours later, a third pyroclastic flow headed down the volcano. This flow was different, however because it reached the northern wall and continued no further, not much damage was done. But eventually, the city would be totally engulfed.
6:30am- The last of four devastating pyroclastic flows barrels over Pompeii, incinerating everything in its path and killing anyone who was still in the city. Then, another two surges encased the city in a tomb.
The survivors of the eruption returned to the city. What they found was an alien landscape, where their city used to be. Everybody scrambled to find their houses by digging through the ash and rock that covered the city. Some survivors found their houses, some did not.
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