The Oso Mudslide
The Everett Herald, 2014
A fatal mudslide brought debris down the Stillaguamish River near Oso, Washington on March 22, 2014, stopping the flow of the river and destroying the Steelhead Haven neighborhood and a section of highway 530. Forty-three people lost their lives in the slide. It is now considered the most deadly landslide in American history. For the following days, weeks and months, the people of Oso and nearby towns Darrington and Arlington became first responders, digging through the muck for survivors and the bodies of their friends and neighbors, and then working together to rebuild the highway and their community. Read More
A fatal mudslide brought debris down the Stillaguamish River near Oso, Washington, Saturday morning, stopping the flow of the river and destroying the Steelhead Haven neighborhood and a section of highway 530, March 22, 2014. Forty-three people lost their lives in the slide.A fatal mudslide brought debris down the Stillaguamish River near Oso Saturday morning, stopping the flow of the river and destroying the Steelhead Haven neighborhood and a section of highway 530, March 22, 2014.Trees line the edge of a cliff formed when a wall of earth slid off the hill and into the North Fork Stillaguamish river valley and neighborhood below.Jeff Anderson (left) and Coby Young search through the wreckage of a home belonging to the Kuntz family Sunday afternoon near Oso. The entire Kuntz family was at a baseball game Saturday morning when a fatal mudslide swept through the area. The family returned Sunday to search through what remained.Water and mud back up on the east side of Saturday's fatal mudslide near Oso on Sunday afternoon.Steve Skaglund walks across the rubble Sunday, March 23, 2014, searching for bodies and survivors on the east side of Saturday's fatal mudslide near Oso, Washington.A search and rescue helicopter flies low over the mudslide affected area Sunday, March 23, looking for survivors.A car is left unrecognizable and covered in mud from a landslide near Oso.Jason Anderson, Steve Skaglund, Rhonda Cook and Frank Cook recover a body from the wreckage Sunday, on the east side of Saturday's fatal mudslide near Oso.A woman holds family photos pulled from the rubble at the site of Saturday's fatal mudslide near Oso on Sunday afternoon.Volunteers Frank and Rhonda Cook watch as the final body they recovered Sunday afternoon is lifted into a helicopter on the east side of Saturday's fatal mudslide near Oso. The couple started at 6 a.m. searching the area Sunday, March 23, 2014.A lake has formed on one side of Highway 530 as water backup overflows from the mudslide plain.
A woman bows her head during a prayer service at Haller Middle School in Arlington.People wrote messages in a sign at the Darrington community center, Tuesday evening, March 25, 2014.Workers and machinery search through debris for the two remaining missing persons in Oso on Wednesday, April 23, 2014. So far, 41 bodies have been found and identified.A Darrington volunteer returns to town after a long day in the debris area combing through the wreckage for bodies, Tuesday evening.Two spotters stand atop a 70+ foot mound of debris left by the Oso mudslide, as work continued to clear and rebuild the section of SR 530 that runs through the mudslide area, May 15, 2013.Many Darrington High School athletes, like football player and wrestler Mason McKenzie, volunteered organizing donations and serving food at the Darrington community center. Donations continued to pour in for weeks after the slide.A man becomes emotional during a prayer service dedicated to the communities affected by the Oso mudslide at Haller Middle School in Arlington, on Friday, April 4, 2014. The Arlington Ministerial Association, a collective of over 30 churches, hosted the event.Dayn Brunner and his son Riley, 17, pose for a photo at Darrington High School, Thursday, March 12, 2015. Dayn's sister, Summer Raffo, was one of the 43 victims of the Oso mudslide. Dayn and Riley spent five days searching the debris field before finding Summer in her car, hands still on the steering wheel. Dayn spent a total of 39 days searching through the mud for other victims.
A flag flies over the wreckage at the site of the Oso mudslide, Wednesday, April 2, 2014.President Obama speaks to first responders during a visit to the Oso Fire Department, Tuesday afternoon, April 22, 2014.President Obama greets first responders after speaking at the Oso Fire Department, Tuesday afternoon, April 22, 2014.Oso landslide survivor Tim Ward (center) stands for a portrait with Naval Air Station Whidbey helicopter pilot LCDR David Waner, Marty Reece, Rockport firefighter Jessica Moore and Darrington firefighter Rocky Cabe on his property in the former Steelhead Haven neighborhood, ground zero for the slide, February 27, 2015. Waner, Reece, Moore and Cabe were among the crew that rescued Ward after he was washed hundreds of feet away from where his house once stood. "All I can say is thank you," said Ward.Oso fire chief Willy Harper (second from right), volunteer firefighters Mike Blankenship (left) and Steve Jahn Jr. (second from left), and Snohomish County Helicopter Rescue Team rescue tech Ernie Zeller were among the group that pulled Amanda Skorjanc, 26, and her five-month old baby Duke Suddarth from the mud and debris on March 22, 2014 after their home was destroyed and they were injured in the mudslide.Robin Youngblood (left) and Snohomish County Helicopter Rescue Team crew chief Randy Fay, pose for a portrait together a year after Fay pulled Youngblood and her friend, Jetty Drooper, off of a floating roof and into the SnoHawk10 helicopter after the Oso mudslide.
Bob and Bobbi Aylesworth pose for a photo with Naval Air Station Whidbey firefighters Ian Walton, Kevin Paggao, and Mike Wenzel at the site of the Oso mudslide, which destroyed the Aylesworths' home a year ago. Walton, Paggao and Wenzel dug the couple out from under six feet of debris.Bobbi Aylesworth hugs Naval Air Station Whidbey firefighter Kevin Paggao as Ian Walton stands nearby. Paggao and Walton were among the crew that rescued Aylesworth and her husband Bob after the Oso slide a year ago.
Bob Aylesworth shakes the hand of Naval Air Station Whidbey firefighter Mike Wenzel (left) as Ian Walton looks on, March 11, 2015. Bob and his wife Bobbi Aylesworth met Wenzel, Walton and Kevin Paggao for the first time since the three helped rescue the couple from the debris in the aftermath of the Oso landslide a year ago.Naval Air Station Whidbey firefighter Kevin Paggao returned to the Oso slide site for the first time since he helped rescue Bob and Bobbi Aylesworth on March 22, 2014.
The Seattle Fire Department honor guard leads a group of people west on highway 530 through the slide zone to a ceremony to mark one year since the Oso landslide, Sunday morning.Frank Hadaway and his son Baylee stand together during a ceremony commemorating the one-year mark since the Oso landslide. Hadaway's brother Steve was one of the 43 victims of the slide.
Hundreds gathered Sunday morning at the former entrance to Steelhead Haven for a ceremony commemorating the one-year mark since the Oso landslide, March 22, 2015.Andy Huestis releases into the sky a lantern that reads "Adam --3/22/14-- many happy days fishing" in honor of Oso slide victim Adam Farnes, Sunday night, March 22, 2015. The families of those lost in the slide gathered, Sunday evening to release 43 lanterns, one for each person who died one year ago. Huestis lost his sister Christina Jefferds in the slide.
Howard Hunter, a public information officer with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources Emergency Management team, touches the bark of an old-growth spruce tree that remains standing in the debris field on Wednesday, April 23, 2014. The tree has become an onsite memorial for victims of the March 22nd mudslide.