The Tunnel Dug After Mount St. Helens Is Cracking — It's the Only Drain Spirit Lake Has

At midnight on November 1, 2026, the U.S. Geological Survey gauge on Spirit Lake read about 3,441 and a half feet. That is about eighteen feet below the line the Forest Service treats as the lake's maximum safe level. The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens blocked the lake's natural drainage. What lets water leave is one tunnel, dug through Harry's Ridge in the 1980s. In July 2026, the Forest Service listed "rock heaving and structural cracking," and in the same release called the tunnel "still functional." This video follows three numbers. Eleven feet: how wide the tunnel was bored. Seven feet: how far the mountain squeezed it at one spot. And 3,460: the line the lake must stay under. Then why closing the tunnel for repairs let the lake rise, what the worst-case model shows downstream, and the plan released on July 7, 2026: a new pressure tunnel and repairs to the old one, estimated at roughly $265 million. Mount St. Helens is not erupting. On October 15, 2026, it sat at the lowest alert level the Geological Survey uses, and the Forest Service says there is no immediate threat. The lake level is provisional data. The cost is an estimate, as reported by The Chronicle. Flood heights are model numbers, not a forecast. The decision was last listed as a draft, and Congress has not yet approved the money. SOURCES · U.S. Forest Service: PNW-GTR-954 (2017), Science Findings 218, Spirit Lake Outflow Safety Improvement Project page, FAQ and news releases (2024–2026) · U.S. Geological Survey: Spirit Lake gauge 14240306, Cascades Volcano Observatory notices, General Interest Publications on Mount St. Helens, Volcano Watch · Federal Register (2024) · Pacific Northwest Seismic Network · HistoryLink · Washington State Department of Transportation (SR 504) · The Chronicle and Substack (Andre Stepankowsky, 2026) · The Daily News (2026) · KATU (2025) · The Seattle Times (2004) Archival images: U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and NASA, public domain. Facts checked as of November 1, 2026. The lake level is given with the date and time it was read. #SpiritLake #MountStHelens #CowlitzCounty #ToutleRiver #PacificNorthwest