Written by
KING-TV
Seattle-Tacoma, Wash.
Mar. 23, 2014
A wide aerial view shows a huge volume of earth missing from the side of a hill facing the Stillaguamish River, in a landslide along State Route 530, between the cities of Arlington and Darrington, Wash., on Saturday. Search and rescue operations are underway for survivors. / AP Photo/ The Seattle Times, Marcus Yam
ARLINGTON, Wash. — Eight people are now confirmed dead after a massive landslide slammed into homes near Oso, Wash., an official said Sunday night at a community meeting.
The announcement came from Tod Gates, incident commander for the Northwest Washington Incident Management Team, during the Darrington community meeting.
Snohomish County Fire District 21 Chief Travis Hots said crews were able to get in on foot.
"We didn't see or hear any signs of life out there today so of course that's very disappointing to all of our emergency responders here on the scene," he said.
The mudslide Saturday destroyed as many as 30 homes and forced evacuations of nearby areas out of fears of flooding.
The debris wall is 1.5 miles across and 15-20 feet deep in some places.
STORY: 3 dead, others trapped after mudslide in Washington
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee described the scene as "a square mile of total devastation" after flying over the disaster area Sunday. He assured families that everything was being done to find their missing loved ones.
"There is a full-scale, 100% aggressive rescue going on right now," he said.
Caroline Neal's 52-year-old father Steven is a plumber who took a service call Saturday morning to install a hot water heater on Steelhead Drive.
"My dad is a quick thinker and he is someone who takes action in an emergency. If he had any warning at all, we just have to think he is somewhere and he's safe and they just can't reach him right now," she said.
Hots said the number of missing is fluid and could change because some people may have been in cars and on roads when the slide hit just before 11 a.m. Saturday.
The mud was so thick and deep that searchers turned back late Saturday after attempting to reach an area where voices were heard crying for help.
Rescuers couldn't hear any signs of life once they got closer, and the decision was made to back out for safety reasons, Hots said.
As authorities tried to determine how to get responders on the ground safely, helicopters were flying over the area looking for people who may have been able to get out on their own and for any other signs of life.
Hots said the slide debris has the consistency of quicksand and rescuers can't go back in until they get a better assessment of the conditions.
The slide has blocked the north fork of the Stillaguamish River.
"The mudflow is moving. We have a massive amount of water that is beginning to back up and has backed up since this thing blocked the river," Hots said.
People downstream from the blockage were advised to evacuate Saturday night but the evacuation recommendation was lifted Sunday because it didn't appear that there would be a massive breach all at once, rather it is beginning to trickle out.
Inslee addressed the issue during a news conference Sunday, saying "The conclusion that's been reached by the analysts is that the risk is not great enough to cause an evacuation and that the river will find its way through some kind of a graded channel over the days and weeks to come to be relieved."
Emergency management director John Pennington said the flood potential makes the situation a "disaster within a disaster."
"We really have two disaster operations going — one that has occurred, and the unique thing about this event is that there is another event that most likely can occur," Pennington said.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for Snohomish County through Sunday afternoon.
People who live in the North Fork's flood plain, from the small communities of Oso to Stanwood, were urged to flee to higher ground.
Forecasters warned that flooding also was possible north of the slide area. The Weather Service said "catastrophic flooding" was unlikely downstream, but authorities were taking no chances and urged people to leave.
"Treat this as if you would any large flood warning in Snohomish County," Pennington said. "We're really good at this in this county. In this case it's a very serious issue."
The cause of the slide is believed to be groundwater saturation from heavy rainfall this month.
"It sounds very realistic with all the rain earlier in the month," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Alan Reppert said. "There hasn't been much precipitation in the last few days."
Everett, Wash., 31 miles southwest of Oso, has had 5.64 inches of rain this month -- more than 2.5 times what the city typically receives in March, AccuWeather reported.
First responders in Snohomish County, Wash., called it the worst natural disaster they've seen in decades.
"Think back to what Mount St. Helens and Toutle River looked like, and that's what we're looking at," said Rodney Rochon of the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office.
The National Weather Service said the river level dropped from 3.1 feet to 0.9 feet in the hour after the slide occurred, confirming that the river was blocked by the slide.--http://www.baxterbulletin.com/article/20140323/NEWS01/140323005/Officials-now-confirm-8-dead-Washington-landslide?nclick_check=1
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