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Mudslide: Day 8

Snohomish County District 21 Fire Chief Travis Hots looks down briefly as he addresses a news conference about a deadly mudslide Thursday, March 27, 2014, in Arlington, Wash. Hots said the death toll is expected to rise considerably within the next two days as the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office catches up with the recovery effort. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)
Catherine Johnston
Snohomish County District 21 Fire Chief Travis Hots looks down briefly as he addresses a news conference about a deadly mudslide Thursday, March 27, 2014, in Arlington, Wash. Hots said the death toll is expected to rise considerably within the next two days as the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office catches up with the recovery effort. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)
Snohomish County District 21 Fire Chief Travis Hots looks down briefly as he addresses a news conference about a deadly mudslide Thursday, March 27, 2014, in Arlington, Wash. Hots said the death toll is expected to rise considerably within the next two days as the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office catches up with the recovery effort. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)

The mudslide story plays constantly on the Seattle news stations:  the faces of waiting loved ones reveal exhaustion and grief. The workers who dig and pole and sift through the muck appear as subject to slipping away as the victims of one week ago.

The rain pelts down, hour after hour after hour.

Fire Chief Travis Hots has been in his job since January – two months. No matter if he had been chief for two decades, no imagination or experience or training could have prepared him for this disaster. We keep vigil with him, with the communities of Oso and Darrington and Arlington.

We wait.

(S-R photo: Snohomish County District 21 Fire Chief Travis Hots )

* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "EndNotes." Read all stories from this blog