176 persons missing following US mudslide

The number of people known to have been killed in a devastating mudslide in Washington state rose to 14 Monday, with reports of another 176 missing or unaccounted for individuals.

Authorities cautioned that the figure would likely decline dramatically, with the potential that some people had been reported more than once, and that others may have yet to come forward to be crossed off the list. 

But with fears of fresh landslides hampering rescue efforts, emergency responders suggested that the chances of finding anyone else alive were slim.

"I'm disappointed to tell you that we didn't find any sign of survivors or any survivors today," Snohomish County Fire District 21 Chief Travis Hots said at a press conference Monday night. "Sadly, six more fatalities were recovered, bringing the death toll to 14."

On Saturday morning the slide, triggered after rain-soaked embankments along State Route 530 gave way, swept through part of Oso, a former fishing village about 55 miles northeast of Seattle, leaving an estimated one square mile covered in mud and debris. Several people were critically injured, about 30 homes were destroyed and a mile of the highway was blocked.

"One of the responders out there today said to me, 'When we do find a void space... like in a house, it's very tough to even search those buildings because they've been compressed with all that material," Hots said Monday. "He described it like cement that's gone into the voids."

On Monday evening, President Obama signed an emergency declaration and ordered federal aid added to state and local efforts, officials said at a press conference. This allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate in the search and rescue efforts.

Snohomish County's emergency management director, John Pennington, said that the number of reports of missing people was raised to 176 on Monday. The list was pulled together from various sources that authorities are working from, but does not necessarily mean there are that many injuries or fatalities.

But Pennington cautioned against holding out hope for many more survivors.

"Most of us here in the community believe we will not find anyone else alive," Pennington said. "I'm a man of faith... so does that mean we give up? No. But we are moving towards the realization that we're moving towards a recovery operation."

Among the possibly missing are construction workers commuting to the neighborhood and people just driving through.

Voices of people crying for help in the wreckage of the mudslide stopped on Monday, authorities said, dashing hopes of finding more survivors as searchers continued to pull bodies from the tangled debris field.

Search and rescue teams took to the air in helicopters and the ground on foot on Sunday to look for anyone who might still be alive. Their spirits were raised late Saturday night when they heard cries for help from the tangle of trees, dirt and wreckage. Dangerous conditions forced them to turn back in the darkness.

Adding to the worries was that the slide struck Saturday morning, when most people are at home. Of the 49 structures in the neighborhood hit by the slide, authorities believe at least 25 were regularly occupied.

Crews were able to get to the soupy, tree-strewn mud, which was 15 feet deep in places, Sunday after geologists flew over in a helicopter and determined it was safe enough for emergency responders and technical rescue personnel to search for survivors, Hots said.

He added that they did not search the entire debris field, only drier areas safe to traverse. 

Both frequent, heavy rainfall and geography make the area prone to landslides. Less than a decade ago, another slide hit in the same general area. Geologists and other experts said the Stillaguamish River likely caused some erosion in the area, which was carved by glaciers millennia ago.

Snohomish County estimated in a recent report that 28,500 people lived in areas across the county that are susceptible to slides.

Authorities believe Saturday's slide was caused by ground made unstable by recent heavy rainfall.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee described the scene as "a square mile of total devastation" after flying over the area midday Sunday. He assured families that everything was being done to find their missing loved ones.

The slide blocked the north fork of the Stillaguamish River, raising fears on Saturday of downstream flooding. But water began to seep through the blockage Sunday, alleviating some concerns.

Bruce Blacker, who lives just west of the slide, doesn't know the whereabouts of six neighbors. "It's a very close-knit community," he said as he waited at an Arlington roadblock before troopers let him through.

Search-and-rescue help came from around the region, including the Washington State Patrol and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Dane Williams, 30, who lives a few miles from the mudslide, spent Saturday night at a Red Cross shelter at the Arlington school. He said he saw a few "pretty distraught" people at the shelter who didn't know the fate of loved ones who live in the disaster area.

"It makes me want to cry," Williams said.