On May 8, 1902, Mount Pelee produced a fiery cloud that descended to Saint-Pierre, Martinique. This cloud is a volcanic flow of gas and burning materials, not ordinary smoke that one could go through. The city is destroyed and tens of thousands of people are dying.
The eruption had already caused tremors, ash emissions and mudslides. On May 5, the draining of a water area at the top had destroyed a factory. The crisis is not limited to a single isolated explosion: other clouds follow that of May 8, including a new destruction of Saint-Pierre on May 20.
The study of these clouds helped to understand the Pelean eruptions. The danger of 1902 was traveling in an extremely hot cloud, with no river of lava flowing through the streets.
What we know
No so-called exhaustive number of survivors is recovered. Burning cloud and lava flow are not interchangeable.
To go to the source
References accessed October 11, 2026. Linked pages may be in another language.
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