The lost city of Pompeii

Pompeii was a small village that grew into a big town. Today, I'm going to tell you the story of when Mount Vesuvius erupted. There were lots of warnings that the volcano was going to erupt, such as dogs started howling, smoke poured out of Mount Vesuvius, birds stopped singing, but the people took no notice. Then, on the day the volcano was going to erupt, the ground shook, but still the people took no notice. Then, the volcano erupted! The people ran into the streets to see what was happening. Why was the sky on fire? What was happening?

Then the next part is about a deadly cloud. There was an unusual but deadly cloud, growing out of the volcano. That cloud was full with rock and hot ash. Then the boiling ash began to fall from the cloud. The ash choked people. They could not breathe, they couldn't even scream for help! The ash was not so dense yet. Then, rocks began to fall from the cloud. Some of these were small pumice stones. Others were huge rocks. They crashed on to the roads and buildings. The rocks broke into buildings and choked the people inside.  Some people were crushed in the crowd as they ran away. Others were killed by the falling rocks. Now it was dense. Some  people were buried alive. People tried to escape by boat but the heavy ash did not let them go. Now, the city was buried. Only the tops of buildings could be seen.

The volcano erupted for two days. When it stopped, survivors tried to return, they were shocked by what they saw! The great city of Pompeii was gone! The city was buried under a thick layer of ash. The survivors then lived in other parts of Italy. Over time, the world forgot about Pompeii. Then diggers found Herculaneum,which was another city that was buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted. Pompeii was found afterwards. The ruins of Pompeii show us what life was like a long time ago.

By Vir