Jennifer Camus Moore, Warrendale, Oregon nurse swept away in Dodson mudslide found buried under 15ft debris ten days later. Was hit by sudden landslide while driving.
The body of an Oregon nurse who went missing for 10 days after she swept away during a mudslide has been found under 15 feet (4.6 meters) of mud, rocks and logs according to reports.
Jennifer Camus Moore, 50, of Warrendale, had been driving through Dodson at approximately 1:15am on January 13 when her car was hit by a landslide and swept off the road.
Moore, a registered nurse, had been driving just behind her husband Charles, who said he was talking to her from his truck when the incident occurred the dailymail reported.
He said he heard screaming and crashing sounds over the phone but the weather was so bad he could not see which direction Jennifer’s blue Ford Explorer went.
Moore, a mother-of-two, was not seen or heard from again. A search to find her came to a tragic end on Saturday after he body was recovered, ten days after she was last seen AP reported.
Scramble to recover missing nurse
‘In the days following the landslide, searchers identified an area in the debris flow where they believed Moore’s vehicle likely came to rest,’ Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release. ‘Searchers estimated her vehicle was buried under 15 feet of mud, rock and logs.’
Authorities described their operation to find Moore as incredibly treacherous. MCSO said rescuers had to use heavy machinery – such as front loaders and dump trucks – to move debris to reach where Moore was buried.
The work had to be carried out delicately, as the mud in the area was wet and unstable, authorities said.
Once located where they believed Moore to be buried, MCSO began working with a private contractor who used a high-powered metal detector to locate the exact location of her SUV underneath 15-feet of mud.
The sheriff’s office said they were able to complete the recovery with the help of firefighters from Corbett County.
‘It’s not the outcome everyone would have hoped for,’ River Patrol Unit Sgt. Steve Dangler said, ‘but at least at this point, it brings closure to the family and allows them to begin the grieving process.’
He said it was a situation he had never seen before ‘with how much rock and debris there was in and around the area and within the vehicle. It was a really tough day.’
‘compassionate nurse, trusted colleague, a wife, a mother, and a wonderful friend.’
Moore was an oncology nurse at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center for 17 years, according to the hospital.
A GoFundMe page set up by her colleagues had as of Sunday night raised $28,000.
She was remembered by friends as ‘an amazing woman’, a ‘compassionate nurse, trusted colleague, a wife, a mother, and a wonderful friend.’
‘Her infectious laugh brightens any room and her kindness extends to all she meets,’ the post reads.
The landslide was triggered by a powerful Pacific Northwest storm that swept into the area on January 12 through to the 13th.
Heavy rainfall and high winds left more than a half-million people without power, felled trees across Oregon and Washington and swept a tractor-trailer off a bridge.
Localized flooding and debris flows shut down roads throughout the region, including a portion of Interstate 84 in Oregon.
One person in Spokane, Washington, also died in the storm when a tree fell on a car and trapped a woman inside.
It remained unclear how the couple came to be out driving during the adverse weather conditions in the treacherous area.
