Video: First helicopter rescue following mudslide

The roar of the hillside collapsing was so loud that Robin Youngblood thought an airplane had crashed. But when she looked out the window of her mobile home, all she saw was a wall of mud racing across her beloved river valley toward her home.

“All I could say was ‘Oh my God’ and then it hit us,” Youngblood told The Associated Press. “Like a wave hit our mobile home and pushed it up. It tore the roof off of the house. When we stopped moving we were full of mud everywhere. Two minutes was the whole thing.”

Youngblood is among the few survivors of the massive, deadly mudslide.

The wall of mud hit her home, engulfing her and a student of her church. Youngblood was able to swim to the surface and clung to the unattached roof before more water came in — a stroke of luck that probably helped save her life because she was not trapped. Her student, a Dutch national named Jetty Dooper, also surfaced.

“We cleaned everything from our noses and mouth so we could breathe,” Youngblood said.

Snohomish County Helicopter Rescue Team was first on the scene when the slide hit. They rescued Youngblood and Dooper, and caught it on video.

It was one of eight rescues performed by the first responders. These women had lost everything they owned: expect for one thing.

Covered in freezing mud, Youngblood and Dooper waited. While waiting for help, she saw a something of hers floating toward them, a painting called “Wolf Vision.”

About an hour after the slide, the helicopter arrived and crews extracted the two women. Youngblood made sure the painting was also retrieved. It’s the only item she has from her home.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.