As the official death toll from the Washington state mudslide climbed to 21 Sunday, crews are still sifting through the massive debris field to search for bodies and personal belongings in hopes of returning items to those who lost everything.
While they continue the grim task of looking for victims, others are being laid to rest as the first funeral services were held.
Search dogs have been instrumental in finding human remains, sometimes under metres of mud and water, but now they are getting a couple days to rest.
According to officials, after a long time at a scene, dogs can lose their scenting ability and need to take breaks to rest.
“When the search dogs come out of the debris field, they have to be decontaminated. Everyone who goes into the area has to go through the same decontamination process for safety, even the dogs,” Snohomish County said on their Facebook page.
Two members of Vancouver’s Heavy Urban Search and Rescue Team have just returned home from the slide, which hit near Oso eight days ago.
“If you think about a bath tub with water going back and forth, that’s what the mud was doing… and it just obliterated everything,” said HUSAR’s task force manager Joe Foster.
The team wasn’t officially invited to assist, but they were allowed to observe.
Federal funding for Canada’s teams was canceled in 2012 and dried up last year. While the province has picked up some of the cost, it’s not anywhere near the same level.
Foster in concerned the lack of funding could impact emergency response efforts should a similar disaster hit north of the border.
With files from Jill Bennett
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