Rescuers in suburban Philadelphia stepped up a search on Monday for a 9-month-old boy and his 2-year-old sister, swept away by weekend rains that swelled the banks of a creek as they traveled to a barbecue with their family.
Upper Makefield Township Fire Chief Tim Brewer said on Monday it was a “huge undertaking” and that 100 search teams and numerous drones were on the hunt for the two children along the creek that empties into the Delaware River in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
The children are part of a family in Charleston, South Carolina, who were visiting relatives and friends when they were caught in a flash flood on Saturday, Mr Brewer said.
“As they tried to escape the rough waters, the father took his 4-year-old son while the mother and grandmother grabbed the other two children,” he said. Father and son were able to “miraculously” get to safety. “However, the grandmother, the mother and the two children were swept away by the waters,” Mr Brewer added. The mother was found dead.
The grandmother survived, Upper Makefield Police said in a social media post. Four other people died in the floods, but their identities were not specified. The names of the victims have not been released.
Another press conference is scheduled for Monday afternoon.
The already saturated Northeast began to dry out on Monday after torrential weekend rains caused flash flooding in parts of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and from New Jersey. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency on Sunday and planned to visit the damage early Monday in the northwest of the state.
A confirmed tornado touched down Sunday morning in North Brookfield, Mass., but no injuries or major property damage was reported. In New Hampshire, where roads collapsed in several towns, heavy rain postponed Sunday’s NASCAR race by one day at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Vermont reported no immediate security threats after historic flooding nearly a week ago dumped up to two months of rain in two days. US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has planned to visit the state later in the day on Monday.
More rain is forecast for Tuesday.
Severe storms on Sunday led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights at airports in the New York area, and hundreds of flights were delayed.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said 13 centimeters of rain fell in the span of two hours in Suffolk County on Long Island. The state suffered US$50 million in damage from last week’s storms.
In North Carolina, flooding killed a 49-year-old woman whose car was swept off a road in Alexander County late Saturday night. A man who was in the car with her was saved.