Washington State Landslide 100 + Still missing

[dakid23]

CNN not showing any love to this because of that airplane.

I read somewhere that a lady lost her Daughter, Fiance, & Parents

Rescuers scour Washington state mudslide rubble; toll expected to rise

By Bill Rigby
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The Botched Landslide Response The Daily Beast

ARLINGTON, Washington (Reuters) - Rescue workers combed through muck and rubble on Tuesday left by a devastating weekend mudslide in Washington state that killed at least 14 people and left scores more missing, and authorities said they expected the death toll to rise through the day.

Even as hopes dwindled of plucking anyone else out alive, about a dozen workers searched overnight for as many as 176 people reported missing after a rain-soaked hillside collapsed on Saturday, swallowing dozens of homes near the town of Oso, Snohomish County Executive John Lovick said.

News video showed rescuers equipped with chainsaws climbing over flattened houses. Shards of wood and tangled brush covered a square-mile zone of devastation zone that once contained a meandering river, a state road and rural homes.

With no change overnight in the number of people missing, local fire chief Travis Hots said he expected the fatality count to rise throughout the day in the slide area, about 55 miles northeast of Seattle.

"The operational plan for the day is going to be challenging. The weather's changed and we've got some rain coming in. That's going to make it even more challenging for our folks that are on the ground there," Hots told reporters.

The disaster ranks as one of the deadliest U.S. landslides since 10 people died when falling earth engulfed homes in the coastal community of La Conchita, California, in 2005.

Authorities said they were hoping the number of people listed as missing would decline as some may have been double-counted or were slow to alert family and officials of their whereabouts. Eight people were injured.

"I believe in miracles and I believe people can survive these events," John Pennington, Snohomish County's director of emergency management, told reporters.

But after three days, the operation was shifting from a rescue operation to a recovery mission, officials said. Rescuers failed to locate any more people in the rubble by early Tuesday.

Hots, the fire chief, said authorities were also turning back many volunteers due to unstable ground conditions and fears of another landslide that could sweep away people searching the mud and debris. More than 100 properties were hit by the mudslide.

"The last thing that we want to have happen is people showing up in their cars and sneaking up on the pile, and they're up there working independently on their own," he said.

'DEALING WITH DEVASTATION'

Search crews and volunteers were "dealing with devastation" on the ground, said Pennington, the emergency management director, noting they cannot use heavy equipment because of the conditions, and must work by hand.

President Barack Obama, who was in Europe for a meeting with world leaders, signed an emergency declaration ordering U.S. government assistance to supplement state and local relief efforts, the White House said.

Speaking at The Hague, where he was attending a summit, Obama began a news conference on Tuesday by addressing the disaster in Washington state and asking Americans to "send their thoughts and prayers" to those affected by the disaster.

"We hope for the best, but we recognize this is a tough situation," he said.

The president also called Washington Governor Jay Inslee on Tuesday to discuss the mudslide, according to Inslee's office.

Compounding the sense of urgency was fear of flooding as water levels rose behind a crude dam of mud and rubble dumped into the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River by the slide.

The river was rising with rain on Tuesday, but had cut a channel through fresh mud and debris, lessening the chance of flooding, officials said.

Meanwhile, a 22-week-old baby hurt in the slide remained in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after being taken there by helicopter along with his mother, who was also hurt, the hospital said.

The landslide was not the first to hit an inhabited area in Washington state. More than 100 houses were destroyed by a slow-moving landslide in the town of Kelso in the late 1990s. But that was in a different part of the state.

A report filed to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1999 highlighted "the potential for a large catastrophic failure," and was one of many warnings issued about the area where this weekend's disaster occurred, the Seattle Times reported.

In looking for what might have led to the mudslide, authorities have identified a small 1.1 magnitude earthquake that occurred in the area on March 10.

"It could be related, but it probably at this point is more likely not related," said Bill Steele, spokesman for the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network.

A total of 156 workers were taking part in search and recovery efforts on Tuesday and 50 National Guard members were expected to join later in the day.

Quicksand-like conditions forced rescue workers to suspend their efforts at dusk on Sunday. Some workers, mired in mud up to their armpits, had to be dragged to safety.

Search crew workers were forced again to retreat briefly on Monday from the western edge of the slide area after movement was detected along a 1,500-foot (460-meter) stretch of earth.

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Kaminsky in Olympia, Wash., Steve Holland in The Hague and Susan Heavey in Washington, D.C.; Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Dan Grebler and Peter Galloway)

 

[Top Boy]

They've shown it some love and apparently the place has a history of landslides for a very very long time.

CNN indirectly posed a good question bringing on the geographers.. If you know that area is landslide prone, what sort of reasoning makes moving into that valley a good one?

RIP to the lost regardless.

 

[dmbrhs]

The media has actually covered it quite a bit. There's just not much to report right now because they're trying to find missing people, and it's damn near impossible. Sad though.

 

[supervi11ain]

terrible. hope they find as many people as possible

 

[AZwildcats]

RIP to the victims

 

[651akathepaul]

Heard they had people walking out of that **** today. Gonna check the news out tonight.

 

[651akathepaul]

Nevermind. I don't know what the person who told me that was talking about. The news reported nothing of the kind. Seems to just be getting worse. People literally buried alive.

25 dead, 90 missing, 140 safe, and 35 with status unknown.

 

[picasso swerve]

Man thats a beautiful area right there.

RIP to the victims, hope theres atleast a miracle story coming out of this.

 

[miamiboy]

Sucks man, 125 souls gone like that is so sad.

 

[651akathepaul]

The disaster area is one square mile. For a mudslide, that is ridiculously huge.

 

[mr marcus]

******* scary...

 

[00david00]

|I

 

[651akathepaul]

I've honestly been avoiding this issue even though it's happening in my backyard, so to speak.

As if avoiding the issue makes me feel less guilty about not helping or acting like stuff like this happens all over the U.S./world and why make this a special issue....Not sure if that makes sense, but it's sad all around and really delving into this reality is rough and I have every reason to still be grateful. Life priorities come to mind and who you are as a person to essentially "sleep it off" and move on.

I watched about 10 minutes of the news tonight for the first time since this happened and they showed a little boy (4 years old) who was recovered from the mudslide the day it happened and his few other siblings and Dad were with him in the house when it went down. They're all presumed dead, yet his mother was out running errands when it happened, so they were reunited. Sliver linings...The thought that your entire family was swallowed inside that horrific tragedy to at least get a glimmer of hope to see your little boy again. Yet...together they have to live with this the rest of their lives, so they transition back to gratefulness/happiness from at least having each other to then thinking of the rest of their family who didn't make it. Sad all around and incomprehensible.

Another story my girlfriend was telling me was about an elderly man who had been dug out of the mud when he asked (I'm sure very worriedly) why they were digging him out and not his wife....They had been reading the daily newspaper in their chairs in the living room when his wife asked what "that noise" was. He said he didn't know and the next thing he knew, they were buried. She died. They were to be celebrating their anniversary this week after being married for all these years (exact years I can't recall, but a very very long time).

Probably going on too much here, but one last thing...Always overly-saturate your loved ones with loving words before you leave the house or depart one another. Even if you're mad at each other. You just never know.

 

[furiousstylez23]

How did so many people get into the small area? I done see houses or buildings or nothing. They must be under the dirt.

 

[Top Boy]

I've honestly been avoiding this issue even though it's happening in my backyard, so to speak.

As if avoiding the issue makes me feel less guilty about not helping or acting like stuff like this happens all over the U.S./world and why make this a special issue....Not sure if that makes sense, but it's sad all around and really delving into this reality is rough and I have every reason to still be grateful. Life priorities come to mind and who you are as a person to essentially "sleep it off" and move on.

I watched about 10 minutes of the news tonight for the first time since this happened and they showed a little boy (4 years old) who was recovered from the mudslide the day it happened and his few other siblings and Dad were with him in the house when it went down. They're all presumed dead, yet his mother was out running errands when it happened, so they were reunited. Sliver linings...The thought that your entire family was swallowed inside that horrific tragedy to at least get a glimmer of hope to see your little boy again. Yet...together they have to live with this the rest of their lives, so they transition back to gratefulness/happiness from at least having each other to then thinking of the rest of their family who didn't make it. Sad all around and incomprehensible.

Another story my girlfriend was telling me was about an elderly man who had been dug out of the mud when he asked (I'm sure very worriedly) why they were digging him out and not his wife....They had been reading the daily newspaper in their chairs in the living room when his wife asked what "that noise" was. He said he didn't know and the next thing he knew, they were buried. She died. They were to be celebrating their anniversary this week after being married for all these years (exact years I can't recall, but a very very long time).

Probably going on too much here, but one last thing...Always overly-saturate your loved ones with loving words before you leave the house or depart one another. Even if you're mad at each other. You just never know.

But the thing is.... Everyone who moved into that valley knew for thousands of years that unstable almost straight vertical cliff has massive landslides.. The realtors had to tell you straight up the area is landslide prone.

I mean it's even called slide hill. Geographers have been warning people for years that something like this was going to happen, the media keeps bringing it up and gets taken off track.

There's been like 3-4 slides already since 2000 prior to this one. Why would you even move your family into this area? Or continually ignore scientist whose craft is study of the land?

 

[superblytrife]

^ The same reason people live in known flood zones, tornado-prone areas, earthquake-prone areas, hurricane-prone areas, etc.

We all think it won't happen to us, and based on the odds, we're usually right. But it does happen, unfortunately.

RIP to the victims.

 

[651akathepaul]

But the thing is.... Everyone who moved into that valley knew for thousands of years that unstable almost straight vertical cliff has massive landslides.. The realtors had to tell you straight up the area is landslide prone.

I mean it's even called slide hill. Geographers have been warning people for years that something like this was going to happen, the media keeps bringing it up and gets taken off track.

There's been like 3-4 slides already since 2000 prior to this one. Why would you even move your family into this area? Or continually ignore scientist whose craft is study of the land?

I don't disagree with any of this. But I also don't know how much education families living there actually received. Personally, the onus should still be on them to get as much information about that zone as possible before decidiing to build a home or a move a family there. And I don't know how many of those people were just blatantly ignorant. My post came from a place of thought that centered around the mudslide itself though and the devestating way people's lives had ended. Despite knowing or not knowing or to which degree they understood the dangers, it's still a horrible way to lose a home and a family/loved one.

 

[dmbrhs]

^ The same reason people live in known flood zones, tornado-prone areas, earthquake-prone areas, hurricane-prone areas, etc.

We all think it won't happen to us, and based on the odds, we're usually right. But it does happen, unfortunately.

RIP to the victims.

Well, flood zones are often farmlands, which are flat and require nearby water sources. Whether it be a local river and irrigation, our mountain run-off. There's really not much you can do about that. Earthquake-prone areas are on the coast where major ports are (the Pacific Rim). Also, with earthquakes, damage is determined by infrastructure. When an earthquake hits in a third world Central American country, it kills thousands because of the lack of building codes, shoddy construction, etc. Buildings just fall over. It's not like that in the United States. After the devastating Kobe earthquake 20 years ago, Japan basically overhauled its construction codes. It's the safest country you can be in if an earthquake hits. The US is right there, as well.

It's not about odds, is about economics and infrastructure.

Edit: I only mention floods and earthquakes because I live in Seattle, and while we don't get floods (too many hills), a lot of Western Washington is a flood zone. Hell, the Skagit Valley right next to the landslide is a flood zone. Eastern Washington has more farmland, but it's elevated plains, for the most part (or rolling hills, in other parts).

 

[Top Boy]

^ The same reason people live in known flood zones, tornado-prone areas, earthquake-prone areas, hurricane-prone areas, etc.

We all think it won't happen to us, and based on the odds, we're usually right. But it does happen, unfortunately.

RIP to the victims.

I don't think it's that simple. I've lived in tornado alley all my life, I've yet to see a single tornado after 19 years. Last one to come remotely close to my are my dad was my age, dude is almost 55.

This isn't something that happens once every blue moon. There's a history of landslide(s) in that area every 10 years almost without fail.

But the thing is.... Everyone who moved into that valley knew for thousands of years that unstable almost straight vertical cliff has massive landslides.. The realtors had to tell you straight up the area is landslide prone.

I mean it's even called slide hill. Geographers have been warning people for years that something like this was going to happen, the media keeps bringing it up and gets taken off track.

There's been like 3-4 slides already since 2000 prior to this one. Why would you even move your family into this area? Or continually ignore scientist whose craft is study of the land?

I don't disagree with any of this. But I also don't know how much education families living there actually received. Personally, the onus should still be on them to get as much information about that zone as possible before decidiing to build a home or a move a family there. And I don't know how many of those people were just blatantly ignorant. My post came from a place of thought that centered around the mudslide itself though and the devestating way people's lives had ended. Despite knowing or not knowing or to which degree they understood the dangers, it's still a horrible way to lose a home and a family/loved one.

Yeah I'm not trying to be an *** man I'm just generally wondering why anyone would move there.

But yeah, RIP to the victims regardless, horrible way to go out.

 

[SteveSteve72]

This is awful, R.I.P to the poor people that lost their lives.

 

[superblytrife]

 

^ The same reason people live in known flood zones, tornado-prone areas, earthquake-prone areas, hurricane-prone areas, etc.

We all think it won't happen to us, and based on the odds, we're usually right. But it does happen, unfortunately.

RIP to the victims.

Well, flood zones are often farmlands, which are flat and require nearby water sources. Whether it be a local river and irrigation, our mountain run-off. There's really not much you can do about that. Earthquake-prone areas are on the coast where major ports are (the Pacific Rim). Also, with earthquakes, damage is determined by infrastructure. When an earthquake hits in a third world Central American country, it kills thousands because of the lack of building codes, shoddy construction, etc. Buildings just fall over. It's not like that in the United States. After the devastating Kobe earthquake 20 years ago, Japan basically overhauled its construction codes. It's the safest country you can be in if an earthquake hits. The US is right there, as well.

It's not about odds, is about economics and infrastructure.

Edit: I only mention floods and earthquakes because I live in Seattle, and while we don't get floods (too many hills), a lot of Western Washington is a flood zone. Hell, the Skagit Valley right next to the landslide is a flood zone. Eastern Washington has more farmland, but it's elevated plains, for the most part (or rolling hills, in other parts).

 

^ The same reason people live in known flood zones, tornado-prone areas, earthquake-prone areas, hurricane-prone areas, etc.

We all think it won't happen to us, and based on the odds, we're usually right. But it does happen, unfortunately.

RIP to the victims.

I don't think it's that simple. I've lived in tornado alley all my life, I've yet to see a single tornado after 19 years. Last one to come remotely close to my are my dad was my age, dude is almost 55.

This isn't something that happens once every blue moon. There's a history of landslide(s) in that area every 10 years almost without fail.
 

Yeah, I hear you both for sure.  With this situation, I'm not trying to imply that is was a smart decision to live in that area.  The cynic in me equates this to being a lion trainer--at any given time, there is a very real possibility that your *** is gonna get bit.  But still...folks play the odds even despite the very clear red flags warning them of a potential loss.  That's all I was trying to say.  Clearly some risks are bigger than others when it comes to natural disaster-prone areas.  But I still feel like at the end of the day, if you decide to live somewhere and you know the inherent risks of said area, you're taking a calculated risk, or playing the odds, by living there.  

Whatever the case may be, damn this is sad.  Can't even fathom chilling one minute and then the next your fam is in the earth.  Crazy stuff.