At least five people were killed and two young siblings remain missing in Pennsylvania after relentless rain flooded parts of the Northeast over the weekend.
The powerful storm hit Makefield Township in Bucks County at around 5:30 p.m. Saturday and surging floodwaters swept several cars away leading to the fatalities, officials said.
So far, the bodies of five people have been recovered, while the two young children — a 2-year-old girl and a 9-month-old baby boy are still missing. Their mother is among the five dead.
The two children were with family who were visiting the state from South Carolina when they got caught in the rising floodwaters on their way to a barbecue, town fire chief Tim Brewer said.
“As they tried to escape the fierce floodwaters, dad took his 4-year-old son while the mother and the grandmother grabbed the two additional children, aged 9 months and 2 years,” he said.
While the father and son “miraculously” survived, the mother and the two children were carried away by the floodwaters.
Nearly 5 inches of rain fell in Bucks County, which resulted in rapid flooding and extensive damage. FOX 29The mother was later found dead, Brewer said. The grandmother survived and was treated at a local hospital, police added.
“We continue to look for the two children,” Brewer said. “We are not going to give up.”
About 150 people were scouring the creek overnight and 100 were taking part in the search Sunday.
“With these 5 deaths, this is a mass casualty incident the likes of which we have not seen before,” the local police department wrote on Facebook. “This has been unbelievably devastating to all the families involved, all of our first responders, and to our community as a whole.”
Four people died in the flooding in Upper Makefield Township. FOX 29While Brewer noted earlier that officials were treating the effort as a rescue, he said: “we are fairly certain we are in recovery mode at this time.”
He said the amount of rain – around 7 inches in 45 minutes – was shocking.
“In my 44 years, I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. “When the water came up, it came up very swiftly.”
Other parts of the Northeast were also battered by strong storms – the second time in as many weeks officials had to prepare and deal with the cloud of life-threatening weather.
Multiple roads in eastern Bucks County have been closed because of flooding damage or fallen trees. FOX 29A 49-year-old woman was killed when her car was pushed off the road by flooding late Saturday night, while the man she was with was rescued.
New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire were among the other states to deal with heavy rain that led to damage over the weekend.
Just a week ago, a Hudson Valley woman was killed when flooding engulfed her home. She died trying to get to safety with her dog.
The weather also caused hundreds of flights to be called off at tri-state area airports and hundreds more to be delayed Sunday.
More than 350 flights were canceled at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey alone, with another 280 canceled at Kennedy International Airport in New York.
With Post wires
