Flags Lowered Across Washington To Honor Landslide Victims
Flags are flying at half mast across Washington state this afternoon to honor victims of last month's deadly landslide.
A solitary bagpiper played "Amazing Grace" as two state patrolmen slowly lowered the state and national flags flying over the capitol plaza in Olympia. Governor Jay Inslee requested flags statewide be flown at half staff for one week.
After the flag lowering ceremony, the governor traveled back to the disaster area. Inslee said he wants to observe a community meeting to discuss reopening a severed highway — SR 530.
The governor says how to do that "in a safe and respectful way" presents a challenge. He adds the state is giving this increasing focus.
As of Wednesday morning, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner raised the death toll from last month's slide to 39. The number of missing remains at seven.
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Tom Banse
Regional Correspondent
Tom Banse covers national news, business, science, public policy, Olympic sports, and human interest stories across Washington state. Now semi-retired, Banse is an Olympia-based reporter with more than three decades of experience covering the Pacific Northwest. Most of his career was spent with public radio's Northwest News Network, but now in semi-retirement his work appears on multiple nonprofit news outlets including KUOW. His recent areas of focus range from transportation, U.S.-Canada borderlands, the Northwest region's planned hydrogen hub, and emergency preparedness.
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