The search for a missing woman believed to be swept away by a landslide in the Columbia River Gorge is now a recovery effort, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office said Thursday.
Searchers found the location where they believe Jennifer Moore's car is buried, under an estimated 15 feet of mud and debris. "Considering all factors, the mission is now a recovery," the sheriff's office said in a tweet.
Search and rescue crews from both the Multnomah and Clackamas County Sheriff's offices spent Thursday wading through thick mud and around debris near the community of Dodson, where a landslide occurred on Wednesday. Dodson is about five miles east of Multnomah Falls.
"There are some areas that have compacted just from the waterflow that's going through there that's a little stable and they're able to stand on," said Sgt. Marcus Mendoza of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office. "Some points it might just be inches deep as far as they're sinking, but I've seen these rescuers already waist deep out there."