One month on from US's deadliest mudslide

The rescue and recovery operation continues in Oso, as President Obama visits the area.

One month on from the deadly mudslide which engulfed the small town of Oso in Washington state, US President Obama visited the area, offering support to the devastated community.The President took an aerial tour of the site where at least 41 people were killed last month when a rain-saturated hillside along the Stillaguamish River collapsed, sweeping a torrent of mud, rock and trees thought the settlement. Roads and homes were engulfed in a dense mass, covering an area 460m long, 1,300m wide, and some 20m deep in some places.According to the local Bellevue Fire Department, the debris contains toxic sludge, human waste and toxic chemicals. There are reports that some rescue workers have come down with dysentery.Oso, which lies 100km northeast of Seattle had been made vulnerable to the risk of a mudslide by record-breaking rainfall during the previous three weeks. In fact, March turned out to be the wettest since records began in 1891, with 240mm. This beat the previous record of 213mm set back in 1950.