After the Slide

Millions of tons of mud hurtled down a hillside near Oso at 10:37 a.m. March 22, 2014, killing 43 people. Survivor Tim Ward recalled: The last thing I saw was (my wife) reaching out toward me, and I was reaching out toward her, and she disappeared.”

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)

‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso landslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

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Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

In the shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe in 2014. “We will continue, we just hide it.”

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University of Washington geomorphologist David Montgomery studied the Oso landslide. He was at his office in Johnson Hall on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)

What geologists learned from Oso, and what they wish they knew in 2014

Too often with natural hazards, it takes a tragedy, geologists said. Now the state allocates millions to mapping landslides.

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Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)

Remembering the 43 people lost in the Highway 530 Sslide

The mudslide wiped out a neighborhood east of Oso in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

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Carvings with words of tribute are displayed at the Oso Landslide Memorial on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, near Oso, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)

New memorial means ‘everything’ to survivors, 10 years after Oso slide

At the 2-acre site, bronze and steel sculptures rise against the backdrop of the slide, making use of shadows and light — tragedy and hope.

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A car pulling an empty trailer drives eastbound along Highway 530 in front of the Oso mudslide site on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019 in Oso, Wash. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

A brief timeline of the Oso mudslide

Ten years ago, the deadliest slide in U.S. history struck between Arlington and Darrington. Here’s a look back.

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Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

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