Hundreds of searchers continued the grueling work today of hunting for survivors and digging up bodies in the sea of mud and wreckage left by flash flooding in this wealthy coastal enclave.

The death toll from the landslide that hit a US town last month has risen to 33, authorities said.

The number of those believed missing following the deadly mudslide in Washington state has dropped to 30 after many people were found safe.

Weary rescuers have battled rain and exhaustion in the search for more bodies - and perhaps a miracle – among the pile of filth and debris that laid waste to a Washington town and killed at least 25 people.

The number of people missing from a community wiped out by a mudslide has been reduced to 90 as the families and friends of those still unaccounted for confronted the reality that some may never be found.