2023-07-18 03:55:00
Authorities in Pennsylvania called in 100 people, drones and sniffer dogs on Monday to search for two children missing when their family’s vehicle was swept away in a flash flood that hit the US East Coast over the weekend. Other parts of the country endured dangerously high temperatures and severe air pollution from wildfires in Canada.
In eastern Pennsylvania, authorities described the search for 2-year-old Matilda Sheils and her 9-month-old brother Conrad Sheils as a “massive task” along a creek that empties into the Delaware River. The children belong to a Charleston, South Carolina, family visiting friends and family who was caught in a flash flood Saturday.
The boys’ father, Jim Sheils, grabbed his 4-year-old son, while the mother, Katie Seley, and a grandmother grabbed the other children, Upper Makefield Township Fire Chief Tim Brewer said. Sheils and his son were able to get to safety, but Seley and the grandmother were swept away by the torrent.
The grandmother survived, but Seley, 32, was one of five people who died from the flooding.
“A wall of water hit them; they didn’t go into the water,” Brewer said of the Sheils family.
Scott Ellis, uncle of the missing children, said the family is “completely devastated.”
Monsignor Michael Picard of St. Andrew’s Catholic Church, where the relatives are parishioners, said he spoke with the grandparents on Sunday.
“No matter how long I’ve been doing this — over and over, many, many years — you still feel helpless and speechless to comfort people,” he said. “So you just pray with them for a few minutes.” .
Flash flooding in Pennsylvania also claimed the lives of Enzo Depiero, 78, and Linda Depiero, 74, of Newtown; Yuko Love, 64, also from Newtown; and Susan Barnhart, 53, of Titusville, New Jersey, Bucks County Coroner Meredith Buck said.
County commissioners signed an emergency declaration in response to the flooding.
Other parts of the Northeast began to dry out Monday following heavy weekend rains caused flash flooding in parts of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency on Sunday.
The Vermont Emergency Management Agency reported that swift water rescue teams carried out six other rescues overnight. The agency also monitors areas at risk of landslides.
More rain is forecast for this Tuesday.
Meanwhile, large swaths of the north of the country woke up to unhealthy air quality Monday morning or experienced it by midfollowingnoon, according to the smoke and fire map on the Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow.gov website.
Fine particle pollution due to smoke from wildfires in Canada is causing a red zone air quality index, meaning it is unhealthy for everyone. The particles are small enough to enter the lungs and cause short-term problems such as coughing and irritated eyes, and in the long term they can affect the lungs and heart.
As of Monday followingnoon, cities and regions that reached that point in air quality included Lincoln, Nebraska; Peoria, Ill.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Cleveland and Columbus, in Ohio; Huntsville, Alabama; Knoxville and Chattanooga, in Tennessee; Greensboro, North Carolina; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Syracuse and Utica, in New York.
Sensitive groups, including people with heart or lung disease, the elderly, children and pregnant women, should consider staying at home, according to public notices.
Meanwhile, temperatures in Phoenix reached 43.3 degrees Celsius on Monday shortly following 12:30 p.m., bringing the city to 18 consecutive days with temperatures of 43 degrees or higher, tying a record that is expected to be broken. on Tuesday.
Death Valley, which straddles the central California-Nevada border, hit 53.3 degrees Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
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