| CNN | - |
(CNN)
-- The sheriff of Snohomish County, Washington, points at a pile of
muddy rubble and describes what he sees. "You can tell from the debris
this appears to be part of somebody's kitchen, the inside of the house,"
said Ty Trenary.
Washington landslide: 8 dead, more than a dozen unaccounted for
updated 12:19 AM EDT, Mon March 24, 2014
A destroyed home is stranded atop
mud and debris on Highway 530 near Oso, Washington, on Sunday, March 23,
where a deadly landslide wiped out several homes. The landslide blocked
the highway and the Stillaguamish River.
HIDE CAPTION
Washington state landslide
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Eight bodies have been recovered, a sheriff's office says
- The operation remains an "active rescue," not a recovery effort
- Rescue crews are struggling to reach people because the area is unstable
- At least 6 homes are destroyed; the road and a river are blocked
"You can tell from the debris this appears to be part of somebody's kitchen, the inside of the house," said Ty Trenary.
Authorities in rural
Washington worked feverishly Sunday to find survivors after a landslide
tore through the area north of Seattle, killing eight people and
injuring seven. More than a dozen people are still unaccounted for.
"Total devastation. I
mean, it's just unbelievable. It reminds me of what a tornado looks like
when it's touched the ground," the sheriff said.
Death toll rises in Washington landslide
The Saturday landslide,
which encompassed about one square mile, was caused by groundwater
saturation tied to heavy rainfall in the area over the past month.
Trenary said rescue crews
were working both sides of the slide. Authorities were also using
helicopters to try to identify heat signatures, or people who may have
been able to get free, he said.
But such work is complicated.
While there's a
tremendous effort to rescue people who may be trapped, Snohomish County
Fire District 21 Chief Travis Hots said Sunday that the rescue operation
must be focused on keeping responders safe because the area is highly
unstable.
The mud flow is like quicksand, he said. The landslide is 15 feet deep in some places.
Earlier Sunday, when
just four bodies had been found dead, Hots had said that at least 18
people remained unaccounted for. It was not immediately clear how many
still did.
He described the ongoing operation as an "active rescue," not a recovery effort.
On Saturday rescuers dug
through the rubble while survivors were crying for help underneath the
debris. Rescuers heard voices around 11:30 p.m. and considered trying to
reach the possible survivor or survivors, but "the mud was too thick
and deep," Hots told reporters, and rescuers had to back off.
"Mother Nature holds the cards here on the ability of ground personnel to enter the slide area. It is essentially a slurry," Washington Gov. Jay Inslee told reporters Sunday.
He called the rescue operation "aggressive."
"Every human endeavor ... is being explored here to rescue and find their loved ones," the governor said.
Inslee added that some rescuers had gotten "caught ... up to their armpits" in the slide and "had to be dragged out by ropes."
John Lovick, a county executive, addressed a reporter's question about whether voices were still being heard.
"We were told that there
were noises in that area," Lovick said, stressing that fire chief Hots
had decided that it was "too risky" to place rescuers in that area. "We
are not hearing any reports of people hearing voices today or after last
night."
Inslee said he plans to
talk with federal officials about Federal Emergency Management Agency
relief, adding that he'd never before seen firsthand the kind of
devastation he witnessed by surveying the area by helicopter.
As of Sunday evening,
Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman Susan Gregg told CNN the hospital
was treating five patients: a 25-year-old woman in satisfactory
condition; a 6-month-old boy in critical condition in the intensive care
unit; a 37-year-old man in serious condition in the intensive care
unit; a 58-year-old man in serious condition in the intensive care unit;
and an 81-year-old man in critical condition in the intensive care
unit.
At least six houses were destroyed in the landslide, and as many as 16 were damaged, the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office said.
The landslide affected
the towns of Oso, a remote community of about 180, and Darrington, a
town of about 1,350 people. The landslide cut off State Road 530 to
Darrington. Part of the Stillaguamish River also was blocked, and
residents were warned of possible flooding both upstream and downstream
of the collapse.
The Washington State
Patrol provided photos that showed floodwaters and sprawling debris
covering a rural patch of the road, framed by woodlands and snow-capped
mountains.
The first reports of the
landslide came in around 10:45 a.m. Saturday (1:45 p.m. ET), the
sheriff's office said. CNN learned of the landslide via Twitter.
Agencies including the
state transportation and emergency management departments, the U.S. Navy
and fire departments across Snohomish County responded.
Upon arriving at the scene, firefighters and state troopers heard calls for help, trooper Mark Francis said.
The Snohomish sheriff
warned people to stay clear of trestles or bridges anywhere near the
Stillaguamish River downstream of the slide.
"Water could break through at any moment," the sheriff's office tweeted.
CNN's Matthew Stucker, Joe Sutton, Michael Martinez and AnneClaire Stapleton contributed to this report.
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