Devastating Pictures of the Mudslide in Washington

8/12/2019 Devastating Pictures of the Mudslide in Washington

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Rescuers now admit they are looking for almost 200 missing inkiller US landslide: Officials doubt anyone else will be plucked alive

from the mud after 14 bodies are foundDevastating landslide tore through Snohomish County about 55 miles north of Seattle, Washington state on SaturdaymorningAt least 14 are dead, several others injured and 176 people are missing - including entire familiesInjured include a six-month-old boy and an 81-year-old man who remain in critical conditionOne man said he can't locate six of his neighborsAuthorities concerned that many people were home when the slide struck at 11amSeveral people have been critically injured and around 30 homes were destroyed, as the debris blocked a 1-milestretch of State Route 530To help with the effort, California is sending 18 urban search and rescue personnel trained to deal with earthquakesto Washington

By Tara Bradyand Ryan Gorman

PUBLISHED:06:19 EST, 24 March 2014 | UPDATED:00:08 EST, 25 March 2014

Fears are growing that a disaster of massive proportions struck Oso, Washington after the confirmed number of dead f rom Saturday's landslide wasconfirmed to be at least 14 with 176 others missing. Earlier in the day, that number was 108.

More than 100 rescuers with dogs, aircraft and sonar equipment scoured the remnants of the steep hillside in the remote town, 50 miles north of Seattlelooking for the nearly 200 people who have not been heard of since.

The death toll so far stood at eight on Monday morning, but the tragic discovery of six bodies in the evening was announced via Twitter hours after

emergency management off icials expressed doubt anyone else would be plucked alive from the muck that engulfed dozens of homes when a rain-soakedhillside co llapsed on Saturday morning.

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uers now admit they are looking for almost 200 missing in killer US l... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2587893/Hopes-fade-W

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Sheer scale: The massive mudslide that killed at least 14 people on Saturday and left 176 missing is shown in this aerial photo taken on Monday, March 24, 2014, near Arlington,Washington


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Search: From a helicopter, Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenary surveys the wreckage of homes destroyed in Saturday's mudslide near Oso, Washington as t he search for survivors

grew on Monday to include scores of people who were still unaccounted for


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Grim: The death toll so far stood at eight on Monday morning, but the tragic discovery of six bodies on Monday evening was announced via Twitter hours after emergency management

officials expressed doubt anyone else would be plucked alive


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Devastation: Search and rescue personnel continue working the area of Saturday's mudslide, at Oso, Washington


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Apocalyptic: Steve Skaglund walks across the rubble on the east side of Saturday's fatal mudslide


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Tribute: A bouquet of flowers left for victims sits perched on the seat of an abandoned vehicle in the wreckage of homes destroyed by Saturday's mudslide, Monday, March 24, 2014, neaOso, Washington


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Washed away: Dozens of homes were destroyed and over 100 people are missing after the disaster


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Huge numbers: Authorities say they still don't know how many people remain missing from a deadly Washington state mudslide. Snohomish County Emergency Management DirectorJohn Pennington said late Monday that officials were working off a potential list of 176 people, but he stressed that authorities believed that included many duplicate names


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Unrecognizable: Mudflows forver changed the landscape of this area one hour north of Seattle

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Amphibious: Search and rescue workers set up along a flooded portion of Highway 530 down the road from a massive landslide outside Darrington, Washington March 24, 2014

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Intensive: Rescue workers and a search dog head out to continue searching for missing people caught in a massive landslide along Highway 530 near Darrington, Washington March 24,

2014


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Staggering: At least 14 people have died. Officials say they are still culling through multiple reports of people who may have lived or worked in the area. The slide smashed through asmall community about 55 miles north of Seattle on Saturday morning


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Gone: The entire side of this small mountain was washed away

Snohomish County Emergency Management Director John Pennington said the number of people unaccounted fo r had ballooned from 18 to 176 - andThe County Fire District 21 Chief Travis Hots told reporters that 'the situation is very grim' - but emphasized that many of those names could beduplicates.

'We're holding out hope, but keep in mind we've not found anybody alive on this pile since Saturday,' he said.

'The 176, I believe very strongly is not a number we're going to see in fatalities. I believe it's going to drop dramatically,' he said.

The list of the 176 missing is in some instances is very vague, said Pennington.

'In some cases, that list is very detailed. It's 'John, who has brown hair, blue eyes and lived in this particular neighborhood.' Pennington said.

'In a lot of cases, it's a name like Frank, 'I met him once. I think he lived over there.'

However, while they do not expect the death toll to match the number of people missing, they are concerned that many people were home when the slidestruck at 11am on Saturday.

Several dozen homes were believed to have sustained some damage from the slide, Pennington told reporters at a command post in the nearby town ofArlington.


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Missing: In this undated photo provided by Nichole Webb Rivera, her daughter, Delaney Webb, (left), and her fiance, Alan Bejvl, (left), who are missing as a result of the huge landslide

are shown while (right) Thom and Marcy Satterlee who are also missing are shown


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Pain: Brenda Neal (R) is consoled by Carol Massingale after looking at aerial posted photos of a massive landslide for her missing husband in Darrington, Washington March 24, 2014


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Family members say Christina Jefferds and granddaughter Sanoah Huestis have both been missing since the devastating mudslide


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Searching: Married grandfather Steve Neal, 52, is also reportedly among the missing


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Among the missing: Summer Raffo's family says she is still unaccounted for and may have been trapped in her vehicle


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Tragic: A search and rescue team brings out the tarp-covered body of a victim of Saturday's mudslide, Monday, March 24, 2014, near Oso, Washington


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'Pray with us': A flag flies Monday morning from a small church off the highway leading to the scene of the deadly mudslide


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Brought tears tears: Snohomish County Executive John Lovick wipes his eyes Monday as he listens during a news conference about the deadly mudslide

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Sad days: Jason Anderson (left) searches through rubble for bodies Sunday and Arlington City Manager Allen Johnson (right) stands, paused as if in disbelief, after listening to the

Monday morning news conference

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Long days ahead: Allen Johnson, center, Arlington City Manager, stands with city council member Jan Schuette, left, and former council member Linda Byrnes after listening to Monday's


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press conference

+60Forever changed: The extensive damage of the landslide after taking out a chunk of earth from the side of the hill facing the Stillaguamish River


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Cut out: The entire side of a small mountain was washed away by floodwaters

More than 100 properties in all were hit by the cascading mud, 49 of which had a house, cabin or mobile home on them. At least 25 of those homes werebelieved to have been occupied year round, and 10 others were part-time or vacation homes, Pennington said.

The search for victims resumed under partly cloudy skies on Monday after treacherous quicksand-like conditions fo rced rescue workers to suspend theireffo rts at dusk on Sunday. Some workers, mired in mud up to their armpits, had to be dragged to safety.

Members of a search team were forced to retreat again from the western edge of the slide area after movement was detected along a 1,500-foot

(460-meter) stretch of earth, said Rebecca Hover, a spokeswoman for the county executive's office.

The first eight bodies were found by Sunday evening in the square-mile (2.6 square km) disaster zone of tangled debris, rocks, trees and mud, a sheriff 'sspokesman said. The late afternoon Twitter bulletin on Monday said the remains of six more victims had also been found.

Caroline Neal hopes her missing father, Steven, 52, will still be rescued. He's a plumber who was on a service call when the land gave way.

'My dad is a quick thinker, and he is someone who takes action in an emergency,' Neal told CNN affiliate KING. ' If he had any warning at all, we just haveto think he is somewhere and he's safe and they just can't reach him right now.


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With anticipation: Residents watch Sunday as debris comes down the St illaguamish River from the W hitman Road bridge east of Oso


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Still reeling: Barbara Welsh, left, is comforted by her niece Tammy Oommen, right, as the pair listen to Governor Jay Inslee during a Sunday press conference (pictured left), and a

reflecter is seen among the debris flowing down the Stillaguamish River (right)


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Staggering loss: A flag sits on top of what was Cory Kuntz and his family's home. The family was at a baseball game when the river of mud swept through the area and leveled their

home


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Debris: Water and mud back up on the east side of Saturday's fatal mudslide near Oso, in Washington


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Search operation: A rescue helicopter flies above the area on Sunday surveying the damage and looking for survivors or bodies


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Here to help: This search helicopter looks for bodies - alive or dead - among the ruins of the catastrophic mudflow


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All that's left: A Little League picture frame caked with mud sits outside after flooding caused the mudslides

Officer Aaron Snell, a spokesman fo r the police department in nearby Everett, said all 14 bodies had been recovered. Another eight people were injuredin the landslide.

Authorities on Monday also reported a sharp jump in the number of people listed as unaccounted for in the chaos after the disaster, heightening fears thecasualty toll could climb even higher.

'The number is, I think no question, going to decline dramatically. But it is a number that we want to just go ahead and disclose and say, 'That's what we'reworking with,'' Pennington said.

One retired lumber mill worker, Reed Miller, told Seattle television station KOMO-TV that his riverfront house was demolished by the slide, and that his47-year-old son, with whom he shared the home, was probably swept away with it.

'Well, he was at home. As far as I know he's gone,' said Miller, who was at a grocery store in town at the time. 'There's no o fficial (word) that he's beenfound yet, but he could be buried. I just don't know.'


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Nothing but memories: A woman holds family photos pulled from the rubble of her home


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Temporary relief: Kristopher Langton (left) is pictured holding his five-month-old son Kristian Langton after eating dinner with wife LoAnna Langton (right) at a temporary Red Cross

shelter at the Darrington Community Center in Darrington, Washington


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Warm and dry: Donations of clothing and shoes are pictured at a temporary Red Cross shelter at the Darrington Community Center in Darrington, Washington


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Making the most of a bad situation: Trista Bonus (left), 11, watches an online news clip about the mudslide with LoAnna Langton, Kristian Langton (five months), and Elijah Kristopher

Langton, 11, at the shelter


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Devoted father: Kristopher Langton shares a moment with his son, Kristian Langton (five months), at the shelter

The potential number of victims in harm's way was higher on a Saturday, with many people at home, than on a weekday when more residents would havebeen at work or school, Pennington said. He said search teams were also trying to account fo r an unspecified number of construction workers who werein the area and motorists who were driving by at the time.

But authorities were hoping many of those reported as missing would turn out to be survivors who were either double-counted or slow in alerting lovedones and local off icials as to their whereabouts.

The slide in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains along the Stillaguamish River piled mud, boulders and rubble up to 15 feet deep in some places.

It blocked the f low of the river, backing up water behind a natural dam left in the stream's channel that caused flooding of seven homes upstream of the

slide, Pennington said.

'The bad news is that the water continues to rise and homes are inundated up to the eaves in many cases,' he said. 'If there is a silver lining in that event... it is that it is a slow, methodical rise. You can see the danger.'

Authorities said as the volume and pressure of water behind the dam continued to build, there was a chance that additional downstream flooding and mud

flows could be unleashed.

Water from the river was trickling through the side of the debris plug and creating a new stream channel, prompting authorities to post observation teamsdownstream to watch for signs of danger, state emergency management officials said.

Hots said Monday's search for victims would incorporate the use of aircraft, teams with search dogs and special electronic equipment.

'Also, the Washington State Department of Transportation is going to have heavy equipment out there to clear mud out of the way so that we cancontinue to search those areas,' he said.


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Destruction: A demolished house sits in the mud on Highway 530 on Sunday, a day after a giant landslide occurred near Oso, in Washington


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Brian Anderson, left, and Coby Young search through the wreckage of a home belonging to the Kuntz family - who escaped certain doom while attending a Saturday morning baseball

game


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Grim task: Volunteers Frank and Rhonda Cook watch as the final body they recovered on Sunday afternoon is lifted into a helicopter

Cory Kuntz and several volunteers worked Monday with chain saws to cut through the roo f o f his uncle's house, which was swept about 150 yards fromits previous locat ion. Kuntz said his aunt, Linda McPherson, was killed. He and the others pulled out files, his aunt's wallet and a box filled with picturesand slides.

'When you look at i t, you just kind of go in shock, and you kind of go numb,' he said, adding that there were more people out helping Sunday. On Mondaythey couldn't get through roadblocks.

'They are all eager to get down here, but unfortunately they can't. It just shows how tight this community is,' he said.

Doug Reuwsaat, who grew up in the area and was also helping in the search, said authorities had to ld people to stay away.

'We're related to a lot of these people from around here. So that's why we're here,' he said.

Among those who are missing are the wife and granddaughter of Oso firefighter Seth Jeffereds.

He and his stepdaughter were out collecting errands when the landslide began according to him.

Christina Jeffereds, 45, was at home babysit ting 4-month old Sanoah Huestis when the earth began to move.

Also, Barbara Welsh, who spoke to reporters at a news briefing on Monday said that she hadn't seen her husband, William Welsh since Saturday.

One victim is believed to be 69-year-old Linda McPherson, who had lived in Oso all her life.

He husband Gary McPherson was injured in the landslide too.

Frustrations were growing as family members and neighbors waited fo r official word on the missing and the dead. Elaine Young and her neighborsuncovered several bodies Sunday and had to contact authorities to get them removed.

They also found a chocolate Labrador named Buddy alive, and helped pull the dog from the rubble, leading her to wonder if other survivors could be out

there, desperate for help.

'If we found a dog alive yesterday afternoon that we cut out of a part of a house, doesn't that seem that maybe somebody could be stuck up under partof a house and be alive too?' asked Young, whose home survived the slide but was on the edge of the devastation.

Authorities believe Saturday's slide was caused by recent heavy rains that made the terrain unstable.

From the beginning, rescue crews on the ground have faced dangerous and unpredictable conditions as they navigated quicksand-like mud that was 15

feet deep in some places. Some who went in got caught up to their armpits in the thick, sticky sludge.


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From another angle: An aerial view of the Stillaguamish River and the extensive damage from the landslide, along State Route 530 between the cities of Arlington and Darrington


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This and the clothes on her back: Robin Youngblood, who survived the landslide that destroyed her house, holds the only item that survived the disaster, a painting of a Cherokee

warrior that was knocked from the wall and muddied


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Scarred: An aerial view shows a huge volume of earth missing from the side of a hill facing Stillaguamish River

The threat of potential flash floods or another landslide also loomed over rescuers. On Monday, some crews had to pull back because of concern that ahillside could shift.

Retired firef ighter Gail Moffett, who lives in Oso, said she knows about 25 people who are missing, including entire families with young children.

'It's safe to say I'll know everyone affected or who they are,' Mo ffett said. 'There's so much pain going on in the community right now.'

Among the injured were a mother and her baby. Amanda Skorjanc, 25, was in satisfactory condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle,spokeswoman Susan Gregg said.

Her son, 22-week-old Duke Suddarth, remained in critical condition and was improving, Gregg said. Three other men were in serious condition.


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Update: Snohomish County Fire District 21 Chief Travis Hots speaks to the media in Arlington, Washington on Sunday, following the massive mudslide which wiped out homes and killed

at least eight


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Operation: Snohomish County Sheriff officers monitor the scene along Highway 530 on Sunday close to where the mudslide took place


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Giving what they can: Volunteers carry supplies to help set up an evacuation center at Post Middle School in Arlington to assist those impacted by the landslide


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The impacted area: A massive mudslide occurred in rural Snohomish County about 55 miles north of Seattle, Washington state, on Saturday morning


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Where to go: A sign is placed to direct those in need to a Red Cross shelter at Post Middle School in Arlington, Washington

The spirits of search-and-rescue teams were raised late Saturday when they heard cries for help from the flotsam of trees, dirt and shattered wood. Butno one else has been found alive.

The slide blocked the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, which is continuing to back up, officials said. Authorities said Monday at least seven homesare now flooded, and more flooding is expected.

Frequent, heavy rain and steep geography make the area prone to landslides. Less than a decade ago, another slide hit in the same general area.


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Smashed: A mudslide carried a house with people inside across a road in rural Snohomish County on Saturday


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Splintered: One of the homes brought down by the fatal mudslide

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee described the scene as 'a square mile of total devastation' after f lyingover the disaster area Sunday. He assured families

that everything was being done to find their missing loved ones.

On Monday, President Barack Obama declared an emergency, ordering federal aid fo r the struggling community and federal agencies to coordinate relieefforts.

Barbara Welsh went to Monday's news briefing in Arlington to get more information. She said she has not seen her husband, William Welsh, sinceSaturday, when he went to help someone in Oso with a water tank.

Bruce Blacker, who lives just west of the slide, doesn't know the whereabouts of six neighbors.

'It's a very close-knit community,' Blacker said as he waited at an Arlington roadblock before troopers let him through.


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Seeking comfort: Neighbors gather at the Oso Fire Department to look for updates about the fatal mudslide that washed over their homes


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In shock: Authorities believe the slide was caused by ground made unstable by recent heavy rainfall

Read more:

Officials: 108 reports of possible missing people in Highway 530 mudslide

Comments (34)

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Poppy cake,Richmond, United States, 16 minutes ago

I wonder if clear cutting played a role....

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centerlane,ketchikan, United States, 30 minutes ago

So I guess the fact that the entire mountain is mad of clay has nothing to do with it.

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cap,Dallas, United States, 44 minutes ago

Man oh man imagine living in those homes right at the edge where that landslide stopped. Note to self in future when buying a house besides the home inspector get a site geologist


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also to sign off.

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IED-Slanger,Gitmo, Cuba, 1 hour ago

A lot of meth labs were lost

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jo,denver usa, 1 hour ago

My heart goes out to the families of those poor people killed or missing and those that have lost their homes. Could the powers that be put an overlay of the area as it was over one

with the landslide to pinpoint where houses were and possibly track to where they might have got pushed to.

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much scare,Los Angeles, United States, 1 hour ago

unfortunate

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Brit Lyn,east coast U S A, 1 hour ago

This story should be the head liner on the US / International page ..going to be a tragic story at that....

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AmyDee,Winterland, Canada, 1 hour ago

Wishing strength to those who may be trapped and luck to the rescuers looking for them.


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surprise to those that read. Just put three W's before the link. - MyOpinion, Midwest, United States, 3/24/14 22:30 That's bs man. It's snowmobile exhausted in Yellowstone that causes

it. You can tell its not logging because there's trees all,around.

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Petunia,Timbuktu, 1 hour ago

This is not the time to drone on with your lecture. Whether or not what you say is true, the fact remains that these people lost their lives in a terrible way. I hope that any survivors are

located and the community can rebuild their lives.

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Devastating Pictures of the Mudslide in Washington