Eight people were rescued from cars and two from Houghs Creek, Brewer said. More than 150 rescuers searched for people from the Delaware River to the flood site along Washington Crossing Road Saturday night. We cannot imagine how difficult it has been at this time." "We want the families of those who are lost to know they are in our hearts and we will work tirelessly until we locate the loved ones. When the water came up, it came up pretty quickly," Brewer said. "As a witness to that, in my 44 years, I've never seen anything like it. "Within minutes the road went from passable to having 4 to 5 feet of raging water."įire crews responding to a utility pole that was struck by lightning happened to be in the area as the heavy rains started and were able to start rescuing trapped vehicles, three of which firefighters saw swept away in the fast- moving water, Brewer said.Įleven vehicles were trapped in the creek, he said. "We do not think anybody drove into it," he said. Brewer believes that the drivers were caught by surprise. The mother, her two children and the children's grandmother were swept into the creek.īuck confirmed the grandmother is alive but she lost her grip on her granddaughter while trying to help her daughter.Īt least two of the confirmed dead were swept away after they got out of their vehicles, Brewer said. The woman's husband and her 4-year-old son were able to safely escape, Brewer said. The family had been on their way to a family cookout when they encountered the floodwaters. The mother and her two missing children were from Charlestown, South Carolina, but they were in the area visiting family and friends. Police were able to contact family of the missing by tracking them down through license plates of cars that were swept away, Brewer said at a media update Sunday morning at the Upper Makefield Township Building. Meanwhile, search and rescue efforts continued Sunday in an area that spans about 2 1/2 miles from the Delaware River back up to Houghs Creek, officials said. Search efforts continue for Bucks County victims A tornado warning was issued for an area along the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border. Parts of Connecticut, western Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire were under flash flood warnings and tornado watches, the National Weather Service said. Sunday’s storms also led to hundreds of flight cancellations at airports in the New York City area, according to the tracking service FlightAware. There are flash flood warnings throughout the state today. “My team and I continue to monitor the situation as more rain falls in Vermont. On Sunday, Vermont officials were monitoring possible landslides. Other parts of the East Coast were slammed with pounding rain, including hard-hit Vermont, which experienced days of flooding last week. "The flash flooding caught numerous motorists by surprise and many were trapped," the Upper Makefield Police wrote in an online update Sunday. We are not going to give up regardless."īrewer also said a second woman was found dead Sunday about 100 yards from where the first victim was found.įor two hours, rain fell like a waterfall, which turned a creek into a raging rapid that swept away nearly a dozen cars and more than a dozen people in what officials described as a "new benchmark" for flash flooding in Upper Makefield. "We are all grieving, however, our commitment to find the two children is unwavering as we do all we can to bring them home to their loved ones," Bucks County Fire Chief Tim Brewer said during a news update. Search and rescue efforts are now focused on the missing 9-month-old boy and his 2-year-old sister, whose mother is among the five confirmed dead, Bucks County officials said Sunday night. Officials are trying to sort out which vehicles belong to which victims as many drivers abandoned their cars in the water, which in some places rose to 5 feet above the roadway. All three were found outside their vehicles, Buck said. Two of the dead were found together in one area and the third was found in a separate location. "It's very possible" there could be more victims, Bucks County Coroner Meredith Buck told the Bucks County Courier Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. At least five people are dead and two children remain missing after they were swept away by fast-rising floodwaters in Pennsylvania on Saturday, officials said.
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