Thread: 108 PEOPLE MAY BE MISSING AFTER WASHINGTON MUDSLIDE

Washington landslide death toll rises to 34

By John Newsome, CNN
updated 12:29 PM EDT, Tue April 8, 2014


An excavator clears a drainage channel Wednesday, April 2, at the scene of the deadly landslide that devastated Oso, Washington, on March 22. The landslide crossed the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River and caused multiple deaths and massive damage.
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(CNN) -- The death toll from last month's landslide in rural Washington state has risen to 34 -- up one from the day earlier -- the Snohomish County medical examiner's office said Tuesday.

Twelve people still are missing, the county sheriff's office said.

A square mile of wet earth and rock rushed into the outskirts of the town of Oso in the North Cascade Mountains on March 22. The slide came from a rain-saturated hillside along the north fork of the Stillaguamish River.

Bodies were found in the debris, which is 70 feet thick in some places and an average of 30 feet over the disaster zone.

Of the 34 recovered bodies, 30 have been identified.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/08/us/was...de-death-toll/

Death toll from Washington landslide rises to 36

By Chelsea J. Carter and Holly Yan, CNN
updated 11:11 PM EDT, Wed April 9, 2014
​
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/09/us/was...html?hpt=hp_t2

Death toll in Washington mudslide rises to 39 as medical examiner works to ...

Minneapolis Star Tribune

- ‎1 hour ago‎

EVERETT, Wash. - The death toll from the massive mudslide that hit the Washington town of Oso last month has risen to 39, officials said Wednesday...

Death toll in Washington state mudslide rises to 41
Reuters - 10 minutes ago

Originally published Monday, April 28, 2014 at 8:45 PM

‘Active’ search ends for slide’s last 2 victims

Snohomish County officials have scaled back their search for the remaining two victims of the March 22 mudslide near Oso.

By Jack Broom
Seattle Times staff reporter

The brother of one of the two people still missing in the Highway 530 mudslide said he understands and accepts Snohomish County officials’ decision to greatly scale back the search.

“The amazing thing is that of 43 people who were lost, 41 were found,” said Frank Hadaway of Puyallup, one of three brothers of Steve Hadaway, of Darrington.

“So do I have an issue? No. Reality is reality,” Frank Hadaway said.

“We knew this day was coming sooner or later.”

Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenary on Monday said the county has ended the “active search” for the victims of the March 22 mudslide that killed at least 41 people and covered Highway 530 near Oso.

It was a difficult decision, Trenary said, but the search will now be made as weather conditions allow and where evidence indicates the remains of the last two missing people — Hadaway, 53, and Kris Regelbrugge, 44 — might be. Regelbrugge was home and Hadaway was doing work at a house when the slide struck.

Operationally, that means the search effort that drew 900 to 1,000 people each day at its height is down to about 30, Trenary said.

More searchers could return if specific evidence is found indicating a victim might be nearby.

Monday’s announcement also means that most of the workers from various offices and agencies supporting the search will be sent back to their regular assignments.

Asked if the decision to cut back the search was accepted by families of Hadaway and Regelbrugge, Trenary would say only that he has talked to a number of victims’ families since the slide occurred, and will not discuss those conversations.

Calls by The Seattle Times to relatives of Regelbrugge on Monday were not returned.

Recent wet weather has complicated the search and increased danger to searchers, Trenary said.

The sheriff acknowledged there is a possibility the final two bodies will not be recovered. However, he stressed the search will continue, far more limited in scope and manpower.

“We’re now at a smaller scale ... searching a much smaller area,” Trenary said.

He said deciding to scale back the search was difficult because “we know Kris [Regelbrugge] and Steve [Hadaway]’s families are both looking for closure.”

Hadaway’s body is believed to be in a deep pool that will need to be drained before further searching is practical, Trenary said.

The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the remains of all 41 slide victims it has received.

As debris removal continues, spotters in the field will work alongside heavy-equipment operators to identify personal property.

An active search could resume if conditions change, allowing access to areas that were previously inaccessible, according to a news release.

Also Monday, Snohomish County Executive John Lovick said the county and state are working to set up an independent commission to review actions taken — and not taken — in the slide area before and after the slide.

The review presumably will examine whether the county took adequate steps to warn residents after previous slides, and if the response to the disaster proceeded as quickly as it should have.

In addition, the county will open a long-term recovery center in Darrington this week to offer services to those affected by the slide. Gary Haakenson, the county’s executive director for public safety, will lead the multifaceted recovery effort.

Haakenson said that work will focus on eight key themes for recovery: economic, housing, health, community planning, infrastructure, natural/cultural, social, and Highway 530 itself.

In the slide, a mammoth stretch of hillside fell near Oso, between Arlington and Darrington, and spread across the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, covering houses and a stretch of the highway.

President Obama, who viewed the slide area last week, announced $7.5 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help Snohomish County with the disaster’s costs.

A “primitive” one-lane road around the Highway 530 slide area was to open at midnight Monday, according to the state Transportation Department (WSDOT).

The two-mile route is intended for local residents, although drivers will not need to show ID

Vehicles will travel behind pilot cars, and no stops will be allowed. State troopers will be stationed on each end of the restricted section.

Travis Phelps, WSDOT spokesman, said caravans will be led through the area in the westbound direction every hour on the hour, and eastbound every hour on the half-hour.

The roadway, which has been used by Seattle City Light crews, is part dirt, part gravel and has some asphalt sections. It runs south of the debris field east of Oso. The road will be open 24 hours a day, but logging trucks will only be allowed through between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Phelps said the state is studying what it will take to open Highway 530, but no target date to reopen is set. He said it’s not yet known how much work is needed to clear and repair the road and make the route safe.

Jack Broom: jbroom@seattletimes.com or 206-464-2222

http://seattletimes.com/html/localne...searchxml.html

One more body found in rubble of March Washington state mudslide

Thu May 22, 2014 8:29pm EDT


Rescuers search the large debris pile left by a mudslide in Oso, Washington, April 4, 2014.
CREDIT: REUTERS/MAX WHITTAKER

(Reuters) - Two months after a mudslide buried much of a community in the Cascade foothills of Washington state, killing more than 40 people, another body has been recovered from the rubble, county officials said on Thursday.

The remains will be sent to the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office to determine the identity of the victim, along with cause and manner of death, the county's sheriff's office said in a statement.

The discovery brings to 42 the number of sets of remains recovered from the landslide. It was not clear if the remains belonged to either of the two people still listed as missing, the sheriff's office said.

A rain-soaked hillside collapsed above the north fork of the Stillaguamish River on March 22, unleashing a torrent of mud that clogged the river, swallowed up a stretch of a state highway and crushed some three dozen homes on the outskirts of the tiny community of Oso, 55 miles northeast of Seattle.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...A4M00O20140523

Last Body Found in Washington Mudslide
ABC News - ‎22 minutes ago‎
Search and rescue personnel believe they have found the last body from the March 22 mudslide that killed 43 people in Oso, Washington...

Normal traffic to resume on highway hit by slide

POSTED ON SEPTEMBER 22, 2014
The Associated Press

OSO, Wash. — Six months after a hillside gave way in the Washington town of Oso, burying 43 people and blocking a state highway, the community is taking another step toward recovery with the return of normal traffic on the route.

The state Transportation Department said it expects two-way traffic on Highway 530 will be moving at 50 mph Tuesday. The department had expected the full reopening Monday, but rain delayed paving and striping work.

The highway was realigned and raised as much as 20 feet in places. Crews also installed six new culverts as part of a $28 million project funded by federal emergency money. Landscaping work will continue until mid-October.

On Sunday morning, first responders and families of slide victims gathered for a ceremony to mark the six-month anniversary of the March 22 slide.

A large American flag was hoisted to the top of a branchless tree that survived the slide that devastated much of the valley. At 10:37 a.m., the moment the slide hit, a color guard of firefighters marched toward the towering tree and lowered the flag to half-staff before raising it up again.

Tim Ward, who lost his wife, Brandy, and was badly hurt in the slide, led a prayer that touched on renewal and a time in the afterlife when he and his neighbors will catch up with those they cherished, the Daily Herald reported Monday (http://is.gd/lTO2Ev).

Ron and Gail Thompson wore black shirts marked with their old address on Steelhead Drive. They lost their house, but they consider themselves fortunate. They said they still have each other.

Pointing to a maple tree at the edge of the slide and the rebuilt highway, Dayn Bruner noted the landmarks he uses to mark the spot where his sister, Summer Raffo, eventually was found.

Raffo, 36, was driving along Highway 530 to a horse-shoeing job when the hillside gave way and swallowed her blue Subaru. Bruner and his family dug through the mud and debris for five days until they found her body.

“Every day gets a little better,” Bruner told the newspaper.

http://www.yakimaherald.com/news/lat...highway-hit-by