Flash flooding kills 5 people in Pennsylvania; 2 children missing

UPPER MAKEFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania — Torrential rains in eastern Pennsylvania created flash flooding that swept away several vehicles, with five people confirmed dead and two young children missing.

The Upper Makefield Township Police Department released a statement saying the five confirmed deaths are a “mass casualty incident the likes of which we have not seen before.” Among the dead is the mother of the two missing children, who are ages 9 months and 2 years old.

“This has been unbelievably devastating to all the families involved, all of our first responders, and to our community as a whole,” the department says in a statement on Facebook. “We are all in grieving over the loss of life we have seen. However, our commitment to finding the two children who are still missing is unwavering as we will do all that we can to bring them home to their loved ones.”

The torrential rains occurred around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, according to police. Fire Chief Tim Brewer told reporters the area got about 6½ to 7 inches of rain in 45 minutes.

About 4 to 5 feet of water washed over the road and three of an estimated 11 cars were swept away. All three were later recovered and no one was found inside, Brewer said. Eight people were rescued from the cars and two from the creek, he said.

A family from Charleston, South Carolina, were on their way to a barbecue when their cars were caught in the flooding, police say.

The father was able to get to safety with his 4-year-old son, but the mother and grandmother, who were trying to get the two other children to safety, were swept away, police say. The grandmother survived and was treated at a hospital, but the mother was later found dead, police say.

“We cannot even begin to imagine what this family is going through, but they know we are here to help them through this process and to bring their beautiful children home,” the police department said.

The flooding in Pennsylvania was part of a string of storms that hit the northeast, causing widespread flooding and power outages. Officials in Vermont were warning of possible landslides caused by the heavy rain.

Sunday’s strong storms led to hundreds of flight cancellations at airports in the New York City area, according to the tracking service FlightAware. More than 350 flights were canceled at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey alone, while more than 280 flights were canceled at Kennedy International Airport in New York. Hundreds of flights were delayed.

The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings and tornado watches for parts of Connecticut, western Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. A tornado warning was issued for an area along the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.