Crews in Pennsylvania are still looking for two kids who were swept away by raging floodwaters over the weekend, when a strong storm pounded the area and killed the kids’ mother. After severe flooding hit parts of southeast Pennsylvania on Saturday evening, two siblings, Matilda “Mattie” Sheils, 2, and Conrad Sheils, 9 months, went missing.
Katie Seley, their mother, who was 32 years old, was discovered dead late on Saturday. Upper Makefield Fire Company Chief Tim Brewer said at a news conference on Tuesday that firefighters have searched the whole flood zone, which is about 1.5 miles long, more than a dozen times and are continuing to search above and below the water.
The search “will shift from a land based and creek based to a dive rescue operation, or a search and rescue operation,” Brewer added, if the children are not located by the end of the day. Brewer said the teams will still use canine units in the search, but that the number of canine units will “scale down” starting tomorrow.
The tweet below verifies the news:
Crews in Pennsylvania are still searching for two children who were swept away over the weekend by turbulent floodwaters that killed their mother as a violent storm slammed the region https://t.co/GFbCXdDRVT
— CNN (@CNN) July 19, 2023
“That will mean underwater assets mainly in the creek and we will work out from there,” Brewer said. A family member who is serving as a spokesperson thanked the people who helped in the search on Monday.
At a press conference in the afternoon, Scott Ellis, brother-in-law of Jim Sheils (Seley’s fiance), said, “Their compassion, kindness, and bravery have given us strength in this unspeakably difficult time.” Brewer claims that Seley was one of five people killed by the weekend’s storms in Bucks County.
The other victims were identified as Yuko Love, 64, of Newtown Township; Susan Barnhart, 53, of Titusville, New Jersey; and Enzo Depiero, 78, and Linda Depiero, 74, both of Newtown Township. The coroner has announced that all of the victims drowned. Love drowned and sustained multiple injuries before to his death.
Parts of Vermont, New York, and western Massachusetts were hit by devastating floods last week as a result of 200% to 300% of their usual monthly rainfall in the preceding month.
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A Flash Flood ‘Captured’ the Victims
The National Weather Service reports that floods are one of the leading causes of death due to weather-related events in the United States. According to the weather service, most vehicles, including pickups and SUVs, can be swept away by water as shallow as 2 feet.
According to the National Weather Service, flash floods are more likely to occur within a short time period after rain and can occur whenever heavy rain falls quicker than the soil can absorb.
Brewer stressed during Monday’s news conference that the victims didn’t risk going where the water was already too high. “They were caught,” he declared. This was a sudden flood,” he said. The wave of water rushed toward them.
Flash water stranded the Sheils family from South Carolina on their way to a barbeque, Brewer said on Sunday. Mattie and Conrad were snatched up by their mom and grandma. The dad reached for the 4-year-old sibling.
According to the fire chief, the father and his 4-year-old son “miraculously” escaped harm. However, the female adults and children were carried away. Police say the grandmother of the children is alive and well after being hospitalized.
The articles and news coverage on CaliforniaExaminer.net are both informative and thought-provoking.