Six more bodies were found Monday in a Washington town that was engulfed by mud when a hillside collapsed, raising the number of confirmed dead to 14, and authorities are chasing down 176 reports of people missing.
Many of the reported missing, however, would likely turn out to be false alarms, authorities cautioned.
The threat of a secondary landslide were hampering search-and-rescue efforts Monday afternoon.
Emergency management officials said some crews had been pulled off the disaster site in Oso, Wash., because of the danger.
'There is movement on the landslide,' said state geologist Dave Norman.
State officials said geologist from several agencies were on the scene to monitor the hillside, but the slide area remained unsafe for recovery work.
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The mudslide Saturday flattened dozens of homes in an area that was 4,400 feet wide by 4,400 feet long - shy of a square mile - leaving a jumble of muck and debris in its wake.
It peeled off a section of the hill that is 1,500 feet wide and 600 feet high. The concern was the land behind that so-called head-scarp might be unstable.
The mud and debris also dammed up a river, which was causing flooding upstream. The water was up to the eaves in seven homes, and officials were considering further evacuations.
President Barack Obama declared an emergency in Snohomish County, Wash., because of the mudslide and flooding. He ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts and authorized the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts with 'the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population.'
First published March 24 2014, 1:39 PM
Tracy ConnorTracy Connor is a senior writer for NBC News. She started this role in December, 2012. Connor is responsible for reporting and writing breaking news, features and enterprise stories for NBCNews.com. Connor joined NBC News from the New York Daily News, where she was a senior writer covering a broad range of news and supervising the health and immigration beats. Prior to that she was an assistant city editor who oversaw breaking news and the courts and entertainment beats.Earlier, Connor was a staff writer at the New York Post, United Press International and Brooklyn Paper Publications.Connor has won numerous awards from journalism organizations including the Deadline Club and the New York Press Club.She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.
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