[Lu Stout:] Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream. Now authorities expect the death toll from a massive mudslide in the U.S. state of Washington to rise significantly. As George Howell reports, the weekend disaster took at least 24 lives and destroyed dozens of homes.
[Steve Mason, Battalion Chief:] The neighborhood that was here spreads out into these areas.
[George Howell, Cnn Correspondent:] These are the latest pictures from the disaster zone. The mud in many places, some three to four stories high, that came crashing down from the hillside and within a matter of seconds, one square mile of what once was a community now coated and covered. Gary McPherson remembers it felt like being in a blender.
[Gary Mcpherson, Landslide Survivor:] Instead of making a margarita, you just kept mixing it and mixing it and mixing it, when it got going fast enough, you took the top off.
[Howell:] Gary is among the many rescued Saturday, when the wall of mud hit his farm. He says he and his wife, Linda, were sitting in their reclining chairs and before he knew it, he was in the fight for his and her life. His air force training kicked in. Stay calm, try to find a way out. He grabbed a stick.
[Mcpherson:] Stick to the north until I don't have any more stick there and I kept waving it.
[Howell:] A rescuer saw that stick and pulled Gary to safety. But all Gary could think about was trying to save Linda. She didn't make it.
[Mcpherson:] She was gone.
[Howell:] There are so many stories of heartbreaking loss in the Oso mudslide. The rising number of those who died, the missing and those who survived. The search and rescue effort continues in this area, but the outlook for finding anyone alive is grim.
[Mason:] They're digging through the different piles. There's guys looking in holes. As you notice out here, there's lumber. There are trees, actually, trees, mud, dirt, residences, cars, motor homes, boats. Everything that everyone would have in a neighborhood is now strewn out here.
[Howell:] McPherson says the mudslide threw his home more than 100 yards away. Nothing left standing and everything he knew...
[Mcpherson:] Obviously, losing Linda.
[Howell:] ...changed forever. George Howell, CNN, Arlington, Washington.
[Lu Stout:] Such heartbreaking loss there. Now U.S. President Barack Obama, he is urging Russia to, quote, move back troops from the Ukraine border and to negotiate with the international community. Now the president told CBS News that the forces may be, quote, an effort to intimidate Ukraine or maybe that they've got additional planes, end of quote. Now tens of thousands of Russian troops are said to be massing at various points along the border. And Kiev fears that after annexing Crimea, a Russian invasion of Ukraine will be next. Now Karl Penhaul is in Senkivka on the northeastern border where Ukraine meets Russia. He joins me now with the latest. And Karl, fear is rising over this Russian military buildup at the border. What have you seen there?
[Karl Penhaul, Cnn International Correspondent:] Absolutely, Kristie. Fear is rising, tension is rising and the local people are making their own preparations. Just to set the scene for you, the Russian border is just a few kilometers over that way. Desolate landscape, some farm land, a lot of forest. This is where the Pentagon says that on the other side up to 40,000 Russian troops are massing. The Ukrainian government says that figure is much higher, puts the figure at about 88,000 along with tanks and attack helicopters. But this is the local response. These men that you see here in military uniforms, these are civilians that have had in the past military training and are now forming these civilian self-defense committees, ready in case those Russian troops roll across the border with their tanks. You know, they've been building barricades here with old car tires, with wood as well. They say that if the Russian do advance and try to cut off the main highway here, then they'll set these tires on fire to set up a smoke screen. And if I can get and just move aside, I want to show you a little bit more of the preparations that they've made. Yes, of course, they put up sandbags on this little military post that they've put together. And down here around this area they've been digging tranches as well. They've been digging trenches, they say, that they're working jointly with the Ukrainian military as well. The Ukrainian military can use this area as a fall back position and fight from these trenches if necessary. And but it really does go to show that there is a genuine fear that the Russians could roll across and that is why they're making these urgent preparations, Kristie.
[Lu Stout:] Karl, it is incredible to see civilians there at the border getting ready to respond by any possible Russian invasion. If Russia moves into Ukraine, how will the Ukrainian military respond? And how will Ukraine's paramilitary forces respond? Karl, it's Kristie in Hong Kong. Hopefully you can hear me. Curious about not just the civilian response and readiness, but also how Ukraine's military and paramilitary forces would respond. OK, unfortunately we just lost our Karl Penhaul there. Karl Penhaul reporting live there at the border between Ukraine and Russia, a very vivid account there from Karl. Now you're watching News Stream. Right after the break, new objects spotted. Could they be part of debris from the missing Malaysian jetliner, we'll get the latest details from our correspondent in Perth. Also ahead, the key to unlocking this mystery, it lies in the plane's data recorder, but the time investigators have to locate signals from the device, it may be shorter than expected.