© (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Snohomish County Emergency Management Director John Pennington speaks during a news conference about a deadly mudslide that happened two days earlier as county Executive John Lovick listens, Monday, March 24, in Arlington, Wash. Two additional bodies were recovered Tuesday, while eight more were located in the debris field from Saturday's slide 55 miles northeast of Seattle. That brings the likely death toll to 24, though authorities are keeping the official toll at 16 until the eight other bodies are recovered.
Snohomish County Emergency Management Director John Pennington speaks during a news conference about a deadly mudslide that happened two days earlier as county Executive John Lovick listens, Monday, March 24, in Arlington, Wash. Two additional bodies were recovered Tuesday, while eight more were located in the debris field from Saturday's slide 55 miles northeast of Seattle. That brings the likely death toll to 24, though authorities are keeping the official toll at 16 until the eight other bodies are recovered.
The monster mudslide, which obliterated a community of almost 50 homes and vacation cabins, apparently took county officials by surprise - despite the fact that slides have occurred on the site for at least 60 years, most recently in 2006.
The Seattle Times on Monday reported that Pennington, appointed to his post in 2006 by controversial ex-SnohomishCounty Executive Aaron Reardon, said, "It was considered very safe. This was a completely unforeseen slide. This came out of nowhere."
However, the Times reported that geologists had warned of a major slide since at least 1999; further, global warming experts pointing to more rainfall in winter months are already suggesting the Steelhead mudslide could be the "new normal."
