A NASA satellite observing Earth captured a shocking image of the deadly Washington Mudslide that has claimed the lives of more than 20 and left almost 200 missing since Saturday.
.@NASA_Landsat sees mud & debris from #530slide across Stillaguamish River near Oso, WA http://t.co/eYx1vQo4m6 pic.twitter.com/28pqflvJEu
— NASA (@NASA) March 26, 2014
The Landsat 8 satellite equipped with the Operational Land Imager was able to see the trail of mud and devastation from space, which looks like a waterfall of mud directly in the middle of the photograph.
Twenty-four people from Washington’s rural Snohomish County are confirmed dead, and at least 176 are still missing, with authorities speculating the death toll will continue to rise.
According to a Tuesday Reuters report, a 1999 U.S. Army geological survey warned the disaster area northeast of Seattle could suffer “large catastrophic failure” sometime in the future.
“The situation is very grim,” Snohomish County Fire District 21 Chief Travis Hots told reporters on Tuesday. “We’re still holding out hope that we may still find people who are alive, but keep in mind that we haven’t found anyone alive since Saturday.”