35 Missing as Hunt Continues for Flood Victims : Disaster: The death toll in Ohio is set at 15 as teams of dogs assist in the search for people not accounted for since Thursday night.

SHADYSIDE, Ohio —  Trained teams of dogs and handlers conducted a slow, grim search Saturday for an estimated 35 people still missing after a devastating flash flood washed away scores of homes Thursday night.

The bodies of four people, including a 5-year-old girl, were found during the day to bring the toll of known dead to 15. As night fell, hopes dimmed that many of those still on the list of missing would turn up alive.

“We are a small community and we know where other people are or should be,” said Matt Coffland, one of the Shadyside area officials in charge of the rescue operation.

On Friday, the death toll had been set at 16, but it was revised downward late Friday night. Officials said misunderstandings and confusion about the list of dead accounted for the higher number.

The body of 5-year-old Tiffany Webb of Glencoe, was found Saturday amid wreckage in McMahon Creek, according to Belmont County coroner’s investigator Chuck Vogt. She and her brother, Donald Andrew Webb, 6, who was found earlier, died when their family’s mobile home was carried off of its concrete mooring.

The Ohio Air National Guard reported the finding of two other bodies, one in the Ohio River, late Saturday afternoon. They were identified as Danny Humphrey, 8, and Mary Grimes, whose age was not known.

A fourth victim, who was not identified, was discovered in the Ohio River late in the afternoon, officials said.

On Saturday morning, the Ohio Emergency Management Agency released a list of the missing to press, radio and television reporters in hopes that its publication would aid the search for survivors.

Ohio Gov. Richard J. Celeste told a news conference that some on the list could be alive and staying with friends of relatives, and, by late afternoon, 14 of those named were found to be safe.

But the fact that many of the 35 who remained on the missing list late Saturday were close relatives of those who died in the flood contributed to a pessimistic mood among rescue workers.

There was speculation that some victims had been swept from the narrow creeks into the Ohio River by the force of the raging walls of water. If so, their bodies might not be found for days or weeks.

The weather turned sunny and bright Saturday morning, easing fears that the rescue operation might be hampered by more rain following a 5-inch deluge that triggered flash flooding Thursday evening.

In the search, Ohio National Guard engineer units followed the dog teams for five miles along Wegee Creek and Pipe Creek where an estimated 60 or 70 homes or trailer homes were washed away by a wall of water after a heavy rainstorm.

The areas were sealed off to allow the dogs to work without distraction. If a dog found a body, soldiers with pick and shovel would work carefully to unearth it, according to the Guard commander, Maj. Gen. Richard C. Alexander.

“We’re going to make a very painstaking search,” Alexander said, indicating that the dog teams and about 350 National Guard troops would remain in the area for most of this week.

“Damage along Pipe Creek and Wegee Creek was extraordinary,” Celeste said after a second helicopter tour of the area.

“Imagine the shock of a wall of water that roared through very confined areas and literally flattened everything before it,” Celeste said. “To me it is stunning that (some) people did survive.”

Celeste said one engineer had estimated that creeks had reached a peak of 25 feet, a maximum width of 300 feet and that water had flowed at up to 10 feet per second.

As the search and cleanup operations continued almost around the clock, state teams arrived to make an assessment of property damage, the first step in applying for federal disaster aid.

In some areas, county roads and bridges were washed out by high water, preventing a thorough search of the muddy, debris-covered creek beds.

Meantime, Ohioans and West Virginia neighbors contributed cash, clothing and canned goods for flood victims.

Celeste called that “a testimony to the resilience of the community” despite the disaster.

Alexander, the National Guard commander, said the military police units brought to the Shadyside area had been directing traffic and sealing off areas for search teams to work undisturbed. The MPs, however, have not had to worry about looting in the aftermath of the flood, he said.

“There are more people giving to each other than taking,” Alexander said, referring to the number of volunteers and charitable donations.