everybody paused for thought. the mayor of darrington, where one of the ceremonies took place today, was eloquent and he describes how the unimaginable had happened. and they realize very quickly a week ago, just how devastating the loss was going to be. to mark the moment, the mariuszed these words. we take a moment to forget the logistics. we get the emergency response. if they get the surge of events that have changed our community. this moment is for them to honor the mudslide victims. those still missing the weather is really not in the rescuer s favor at all, we ve had steady rains throughout the day, a slight pause at the moment, we re expecting an inch over the course of the weekend, and they re having to watch the water levels on the river, which you can see behind me.
i dropped the phone and i screamed a little bit. reporter: now the daunting task of moving forward. we just can t think of life without them. reporter: darrington, washington. thank you very much for that. so horrible. it s such a tragedy already and then you think that it is not even over. we re expecting more fuse out of there and i do not expect it will be good news. no every time they ve come out with news, it has not been good. another break. coming up next on new day, the hunt for flight 370 continues. at least one loved one isn t giving up hope that the passengers on that flight are still alive. we re going to be talking to her coming up next. [ intercom ] drivers, to your marks.
without him. reporter: anna cabrera, cnn, darrington, washington. tensions are mounting in ukraine. u.s. officials say as many as 40,000 russian troops are positioned near its border with ukraine. those troops and russia s recent annexation of crimea are sparking fears of a further incursion into ukrainian territory. president obama spoke about his concerns over this russian military buildup. you ve seen a range of troops macing along that border under the guise of military exercises, but these are not what russia would normally be doing, and, you know, it may simply be an effort to intimidate ukraine or it may be the big additional plans. cnn s carl penhal is near the
almost unbearable in this case as in so many others, those first responders are often neighbors themselves doing their jobs for people they know and they love. in a word they re volunteers. i want to bring in jeff mcclellan, a volunteer firefighter in darrington, washington who knows first hand just how difficult finding the victims of this tragedy are. jack, i appreciate you being with us. i know you arrived to the area jeff excuse me. i know you arrived to the area just minutes after the landslide hit. when you first got there, what was the scene you found? when we first pulled up on scene, we were toned out originally for a single engine response, which usually means to us it s nothing really big. we re just going go down there and take care of a small problem. when i pulled up and saw the barn roof op the highway and all the mud and the big trees, my window was open and i heard people screaming for help. i knew it was something much bigger way bigger. something that i ve never
it s like forensic digging. reporter: crews comb through twisted piles of debris and thick mud. it s just mud, trees. underneath there there may be a house. some look like they ve been put in a blender and dropped on the ground. reporter: officials say that terrain has made it difficult to dig the victims out, even when they find the bodies. things kind of get somber out there. it gets really quiet for a few minutes. you can almost hear a pin drop out there. reporter: still, they continue the aggressive search like they have for nearly a week, knowing there are 90 families still waiting for loved ones to come home. east of the landslide in darrington, volunteers now mobilize to help those search cruise. cindy and her mother-in-law shoulder biscuits for those shouldering the grief. her husband delivers it. we have people under the mud they can t get to. it s hard to the people. it s hard on their loved ones. reporter: in a small