The Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver will get $2.4 million in federal economic stimulus funds to upgrade systems to better track Mount St. Helens and other Cascade Range volcanoes, Southwest Washington Congressman Brian Baird announced Thursday.

The money will go to the U.S. Geological Survey to modernize instrumentation and information systems to communicate hazard information quickly to those who need it, according to Baird.

“We have seen firsthand the death and destruction that a volcanic eruption can cause. Fifty-seven people were killed when Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, and the volcano still rumbles to life on occasion,” he said in a prepared statement.