by Authorities are searching for four people, including a baby, after flash flooding in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, killed three people on Saturday.
A barrage of rain Saturday night flooded Washington Crossing in the afternoon, trapping 11 vehicles, Upper Makefield Fire Chief Tim Brewer said Sunday. A total of 6 to 7 inches of rain hit the area, which sits along the Delaware River, in less than an hour.
A total of 10 people were rescued from their cars and from the creek, but three adults died in the flooding, Brewer said. The whereabouts of four other people, including a 9-month-old child and a 63-year-old adult, are unknown.
«We have assets in the field, search and rescue are physically walking along the banks of the creek and in the creek wherever it’s accessible,» Brewer said. «This is a very inaccessible area of the municipality. There are steep cliffs on both sides.»
He said his teams are treating their operations as a rescue mission but are «pretty sure» it is now a recovery situation. Brewer declined to name those involved out of respect for the families.
In his 44 years of service, Brewer said he had never seen a situation like this before. He estimated that five feet of water rushed violently onto the road very suddenly.
«I thought Hurricane Ida was the benchmark…I thought that was the benchmark,» Brewer said. «This is the new benchmark.»
Washington Crossing is located on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River bordering New Jersey, about 9 miles northwest of Trenton and 35 miles north of Philadelphia.
