Mudslide came like a ‘tornado’

ARLINGTON, Washington: First, there was a roar. Then the trees began to twist. The last thought Gary “Mac” McPherson had before blacking out was that a tornado had struck the Stillaguamish Valley.

The 81-year-old McPherson and his wife, Linda, 69, had been spending the sun-filled Saturday morning side by side, reading The Everett Herald and sipping caffeine—Diet Coke for her, coffee for him—when the landslide slammed into the home they had shared for most of their 46-year marriage.