10 Years Ago Today: Remembering the Washington Oso Mudslide

I can hardly believe it has been 10 years since that terrible day.

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Washington State Patrol Shares Stories & Pics of Oso Mudslide

10 years ago today, Washington State was rocked by one of the worst natural disasters to happen in at least my lifetime. Just after 10 am, a huge mudslide broke free of a nearby hillside and buried part of a neighborhood in the town of Oso, Washington. 43 people eventually died in the mudslide in the Steelhead Haven neighborhood. The Washington State Patrol released some photos and also some stories from that fateful day. Some of their officers were first on the scene at the tragic event which started out seeming much smaller than anyone knew.

Trooper Describes Seeing a House in the Middle of the Road

Washington State Patrol Trooper Oliphant was one of the first on the scene and describes seeing a home in the middle of the road. "A house was sitting in the road in front of me,” he says in the article by the Washington State Patrol. He describes how at first nobody could tell the full scope of the damage because the rural nature of the location limited communication. One of the first cries for help he describes hearing was from a baby trapped inside a nearby home. Trooper Oliphant worked with two other men on the scene trying to locate and save the baby in the very unstable and dangerous mudslide. Trooper Oliphant describes "At one point I stepped on a log that shifted, and one of my legs went completely under and didn’t touch bottom." The two men located the baby carried out wrapped in a coat, and the Trooper helped them all get to safety. In total 50 houses were destroyed and 43 people died in one of the worst days in Washington State history.

The following are the names and ages of the people lost in the Oso mudslide:

Alan Bejvl, 21
Delaney Webb, 19
Marcy Satterlee, 61
Thom Satterlee, 65
Shelley Bellomo, 55
Jerry Logan, 63
Julie Farnes, 59
Adam Farnes, 23
Gloria Halstead, 67
Jerry Halstead, 74
Steve Harris, 52
Theresa Harris, 53
Christina Jefferds, 45
Sanoah Huestis, 4 months
Larry Miller, 58
Sandy Miller, 64
John Regelbrugge, 49
Kris Regelbrugge, 44
Katie Ruthven, 34
Shane Ruthven, 43
Wyatt Ruthven, 4
Hunter Ruthven, 6
JuDee Vandenburg, 64
Lou Vandenburg, 71
Billy Spillers, 30
Jovon Mangual, 13,
Kaylee Spillers, 5
Brooke Spillers, 2
Ron DeQuilettes, 52
Tom Durnell, 65
Bonnie Gullikson, 91
Mark Gustafson, 54
Steve Hadaway, 53
Denver Harris, 14
Amanda Lennick, 31
Linda McPherson, 69
Joseph R. Miller, 47
Stephen Neal, 55
Michael W. Pearson, 74
Summer Raffo, 36
Lon Slauson, 59
Brandy Ward, 58
William Welsh, 66

See more photos released by the Washington State Patrol and read more from Trooper Oliphant's story by clicking here,