Rescue effort suspended in Canadian landslide where 4 people are missing

Canadian authorities temporarily suspended Friday their rescue effort for persons believed missing in a landslide in a remote mountainous area of British Columbia because the disaster site is too unstable, an emergency official said.

"It's an ongoing situation," Bill Macpherson of the Regional District of Central Kootenay Emergency Operations Center told CNN.

Four people were unaccounted Friday for after three homes were destroyed and several others damaged in Johnsons Landing, said Macpherson.

The two daughters and ex-husband of a Delray Beach, Florida, chiropractor could be among the missing because the family has a house in the disaster site, according to the chiropractor's representative.

Valentine Webber, the ex-husband of Florida chiropractor Lynn Migdal of Del Rey Beach, and their daughters Diana and Rachel Webber were preparing to sit down for breakfast Thursday morning in the family home in Johnsons Landing, and that's the last time that Migdal had heard about her family's activities, a friend, Bridget Finelli, told CNN. Finelli said Migdal wasn't available for interviews but Finelli said she was authorized to speak on Migdal's behalf.

Macpherson told CNN he couldn't comment on the nationalities or names of the missing.

The land gave way just before noon Thursday in Johnsons Landing in the Kootenays. Two search-and-rescue teams and a number of Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers were on the scene, along with geotechnical workers and a landslide expert, Macpherson said.

A state of local emergency has been declared, Macpherson said. "It's a very small community, quite isolated."

Search-and-rescue crews were having difficulties because of poor cell phone reception, Macpherson said, adding that crews were sending him updates via satellite phone.

The steep slopes and mountainous terrain are home to a few permanent residents and various summer residents, he said.

The area has been drenched by a record amount of rain during the past month, but it was not clear whether that was a factor, Macpherson said. Geotechnical staff were trying to determine the landslide's cause.