Oso Mudslide

As most people know on March 22, 2014 Oso, Washington had a mudslide. It is not a very big town; in fact, the mudslide destroyed the whole town.   Oso is about an hour and half drive north east of Seattle in Snohomish County.   To get there you go up north on interstate 5 and take the exit for Arlington and highway 530.  Oso was between Arlington and Darrington. Now because of the slide there is no direct route between Arlington and Darrington.

As a kid we went to Darrington a few times, however, I don’t remember Oso.  It is likely that Oso was even smaller back in the 60s and 70s. All that whole area is very beautiful; people of Oso were warned of possible mudslides, however, they didn't know the odds of it happening. You can go to http://www.king5.com/news/oso-landslide/remembering  to read the story about those who lost their lives, and those who are still missing.

Generally I won’t write about disasters like the Oso mudslide because so much in the news , however, as a kid we went up in that area, and further north to Bellingham because we have relatives in that area.  Those relatives on my father’s side, and then on my mother’s side had relatives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Many of the people of Arlington and Darrington are involved in the cleanup.  I am sure some know those who have died, and those that are missing. I am sure it is a very difficult thing to do, however that is what family is about.  Even those they may not know they feel like being family.  Of course, I have written about how important family is, and you do whatever you can for family.

The children of Darrington have been quite involved as well; making care packages for those volunteers looking for the remaining people.  Always under circumstances like this it is amazing the heart people have, and how they sacrifice for others beyond their own needs.

If you would like to donate for the mudslide victims and families you can do so through Red Cross at http://www.redcross.org/cm/kingnwcn-pub. Also you can get more info through Twitter at #530slide.

I know it will take a lot of time to get things back to normal; if it is possible at all. There is a lot of digging to do. Not sure how they build a new highway to connect Arlington and Darrington. Please pray for those people in the area as well as government officials.