Huge search under way for children swept away in US flood
- A 9-month-old Conrad Sheils and his 2-year-old sister Matilda got caught in the waters while their family was on its way to visit relatives
- The children’s mother was also swept away and was later found dead, though their grandmother survived the ordeal
Emergency crews in suburban Philadelphia intensified their search Monday for a missing nine-month-old boy and his two-year-old sister who were swept away in a family car when torrential rains flooded a roadway.
Authorities described Monday’s search for missing Conrad and Matilda Sheils as a “massive undertaking” including 100 search crew members and numerous drones dispatched along a creek that drains into the Delaware River. The children are members of a Charleston, South Carolina, family that was visiting relatives and friends when they got caught in a flash flood on Saturday.
“As they tried to escape the fierce floodwaters, dad took his four-year-old son while the mother and the grandmother grabbed the two additional children,” said Upper Makefield Township Fire Chief Tim Brewer.
While father and son made it to safety, “the grandmother, the mother, and the two children were swept away by the floodwaters,” he said.
The children’s mother, Katie Seley, 32, was among at least five people killed in the flooding, while the grandmother survived, Upper Makefield Police said in a social media post.