Killed were Amy Russell, 26, a barmaid in the saloon and Carrie Smith, 34, a waitress at the deli.
Sheriff William T. “Billy” Ferrell said …it would be early Sunday morning before rescue workers could clear the tons of mud and brick to determine additional fatalities.
Amid the roar of chain saws, the rumbling of gasoline powered generators and with television lights glaring, the last body was removed at 9:20 pm.
Ms. Smith’s body was removed around 5 pm. The deli in which she worked had just opened for business Friday. Her sister, Mary Ann, also a waitress at the deli, was injured and was hospitalized…with multiple injuries.
The mud apparently started its descent down the hill at approximately 3 pm. Steve Stephens, owner of a boat dock, said he looked up and saw the huge wall of mud and an 80-foot tree sliding down the bluff. “I started to yell like hell,” Stephens said. “But nobody in the bar could hear me.” Stephens said he watched helplessly as the mud crashed into the buildings, sending people literally flying out the door. “I thought for a minute the whole thing was going to come on down the hill into the river,” Stephens said.
Natchez Democrat. MUDSLIDE RIPS APART U-T-H.
By Danny Richardson. March 30, 1980
