Did you know that the biggest volcanic disaster in modern history happened in 1902 at Mt. Pelée in Martinique – just steps from Rhum J.M? This article is a great look inside what happened on May 8th, Ascension day.

On May 5, events took a deadly turn when a massive lahar broke through the crater wall and came screaming down the Rivière Blanche at speeds topping 100 kilometers per hour. A devastating mixture of mud and hot water, the slide destroyed a sugar processing plant on the coast, killing almost two dozen people. The debris then spilled into the ocean, producing a 3-meter-high tsunami that inundated St. Pierre.

Perhaps most horrifying of all, though, was the plague of insects and snakes that slithered down from the mountain, disturbed by its paroxysms. Among the invaders were gigantic centipedes and deadly 2-meter long pit vipers

Read up on the full story with Earth Magazine!