Lava flows rarely kill people because they move slowly enough for people to get out of their way. But they can cause considerable destruction to buildings in their path.
If thick enough, blankets of ash can suffocate plants, animals, and humans. When hot volcanic materials mix with water from streams or melted snow and ice, mudflows form. Mudflows have buried entire communities located near erupting volcanoes!
Explosive volcanic eruptions can be dangerous and deadly. They can blast out clouds of hot lava from the side or top of a volcano. These fiery clouds race down mountainsides destroying almost everything in their path. Ash erupted into the sky falls back to Earth like powdery snow, but snow that won't melt.
