2023-07-17 21:14:01
WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pa. — Rescuers in suburban Philadelphia stepped up their search Monday for a 9-month-old boy and his 2-year-old sister who were swept away by torrential weekend rains that swelled the banks of a creek as they went 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.
Matilda Sheils, 2, and her brother Conrad Sheils, 9 months, are members of a family from Charleston, South Carolina, who were visiting relatives and friends when they were caught in a flood flash Saturday.
“As they tried to escape the fierce flooding, the father took his 4-year-old son away while the mother and grandmother grabbed the other two children,” Mr Brewer said.
As the father and son managed to get to safety, “the grandmother, mother and the two children were swept away by the floodwaters,” he added.
The children’s mother, Katie Seley, 32, lost her life, one of five people killed in the floods, while the grandmother survived. The names of the other victims have not been released and there could be more.
Monsignor Michael Picard, of St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic Church, where the family members are parishioners, said he spoke with the grandparents on Sunday. The grandfather attended morning mass on Monday, where the family was included in prayers.
“No matter how long I’ve been doing this — over and over and over, many years — you still find yourself helpless and without words to comfort people,” Bishop Picard said. And so you just pray with them for a few minutes.”
Severe weather
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.
The Vermont Emergency Management Agency reported that swiftwater rescue teams performed six additional rescues overnight. The agency was also monitoring areas at risk of landslides.
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.
Bad air quality
Meanwhile, large swaths of the northern United States woke up to unhealthy air quality Monday morning or felt it by mid-afternoon, according to the AirNow.gov Smoke and Fire Map of the United States. Environmental Protection Agency.
Fine particulate pollution caused by smoke from wildfires in Canada results in a red zone air quality index, which means it is unhealthy for everyone. The particles are tiny enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and cause short-term problems like coughing and itchy eyes, and long-term can affect the lungs and heart.
The EPA advises keeping outdoor activities light and short when air quality indices exceed 150 on the agency’s map.
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