Washington continues search at mudslide site with deaths expected to rise

Poor conditions hampered the recovery of bodies at the site of a catastrophic mudslide in Washington state, but rescue officials expect the final death toll to far exceed the 26 people known to have been killed when a rain-soaked hillside collapsed without warning on Saturday.

Up to an inch of rain is forecast for Friday, conditions that complicate the search for people buried under a deluge of mud that flattened dozens of homes in a river valley near the rural town of Oso, in Snohomish County, some 55 miles northeast of Seattle.

Although the remains of 26 people killed by the landslide are known to have been found, local authorities for days have been counting only the first 17 victims recovered and examined by coroners for inclusion in the official death toll.

Officials are still calling their search effort a rescue operation and have held off from bringing in heavy equipment, instead opting to use their hands and shovels. Crews continue to search for survivors, while admitting that chances of finding any at this point are slim. Most involved in the search expect more bodies to be recovered in the days to come.

All of those discovered alive in the mud were rescued by helicopter within the first few hours after the landslide, and rescuers have not found further signs of life, officials said.

Robin Youngblood, who was among those who survived the disaster, told Al Jazeera she heard a roar when the incident happened. 

"I thought maybe there was a 747 or something going down — it was so loud. We looked out the window, and there was a gigantic wall of mud racing across the valley. I think it must have been going 150 m.p.h., and all I can say is 'Oh, my God,' and then it hit us," she said.

Authorities were investigating the cause of the mudslide. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources said it would review recent forestry activities in the area to determine whether they might have been a factor. 

No earthquake had occurred in the region, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Many residents voiced anger that local officials refused to allow volunteers to join the search for survivors immediately after the slide, when chances for finding any were greatest. 

While some used their intimate knowledge of the area to sneak into the disaster zone to help, others said they returned home feeling frustrated and helpless. Officials warned that conditions were too dangerous to allow nonprofessional volunteers into the disaster zone, though they finally agreed on Tuesday to start allowing volunteers to join the official rescue teams. 

Weather conditions are making the search effort more difficult, with stormy weather expected for the area throughout the weekend. It has presented an even greater challenge in addition to the problems posed by mud and debris.

Late Thursday night, Snohomish County officials said an infant whose body was recovered earlier in the day had also now been sent to the medical examiner's office.

An estimated 180 people lived in the path of the landslide. 

"This is going to get harder and harder," said Dan Rankin, mayor of nearby Darrington, as he choked back tears at a town hall meeting attended by hundreds of people on Thursday evening. "We need each other more and more." 

Snohomish Fire Chief Travis Hots said about 200 people continued to comb through the treacherous disaster site without respite.

"I haven't lost hope yet. There's a lot of people up there who haven't lost hope yet," he said. 

Despite the slow trickle of information on the tally of the dead and missing, most people in town seemed comfortable that officials were dealing with them forthrightly. 

"They're keeping us informed," said Bernie Tamez, 39, a machinist who took the week off to volunteer in Darrington, where he lives. Turned away from helping at the pile, he has instead helped out in the community kitchen that has been feeding a few hundred people each night before the town hall meeting.

The state National Guard's commanding officer offered to deploy a 50-member search team last Saturday, an offer local emergency management officials did not accept until Monday, a Washington Military Department spokeswoman said. 

While county officials did not initially grasp the magnitude of the devastation, there was no room for more personnel because of quicksand-like conditions and fears of further slides, department spokeswoman Karina Shagren said. 

"There wasn't a resources issue, there was a safety issue."

Al Jazeera and Reuters. Sabrina Register contributed to this report.