Obama devotes federal resources to mudslide relief effort
March 25 - President Barack Obama says FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers are on site in Washington state where a mudslide has killed 14 people. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
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ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION STORY: Local officials in Washington state said on Tuesday (March 25) that they expect the known death toll in Saturday's massive mudslide to rise later in the day and that a mortuary assistance team has been brought in to help in their recovery efforts. The mudslide occurred when a rain-soaked hillside collapsed on Saturday morning (March 22), swallowing dozens of homes near Oso, about 55 miles (88 kilometers) northeast of Seattle. Fourteen people were confirmed dead in the mudslide as of Tuesday morning and 176 people missing and unaccounted for. President Barack Obama, who was in Europe on Tuesday, acknowledged the victims of the mudslide before his remarks during a meeting of world leaders. "We hope for the best, but we recognize that this is a tough situation," Obama said from the Hague. Rescue workers sifted through mucky rubble on Tuesday amid dwindling hopes of finding any more survivors from among the scores of people still missing from the devastating weekend mudslide. Compounding their sense of urgency among rescue workers was a fear of flooding as water levels rose behind a crude dam of mud and rubble that had been dumped into the Stillaguamish River by the slide area.