As the waves of mud and debris swept him down a California hillside, Woodinville resident Stephen Phillips' life was reduced to single struggles: dodging the mobile homes that tumbled toward him, grabbing at logs and utility poles that offered fleeting respites and counting the time between breaths. In the few seconds when fear was not all consuming, he begged God to please let him again see his children, who were also in the mudslide's path. Phillips recounted his survival story by telephone from his hospital bed in San Bernardino, Calif., where the 43-year-old software developer and outdoor enthusiast lies recovering...