Weather disrupts search for 2 missing kids swept away by Bucks County flooding again
UPPER MAKEFIELD, Pa. (CBS) -- The underwater search for two small children who were swept away in flash flooding over the weekend was supposed to begin Thursday, but authorities were forced to hold off for a second straight day because of weather conditions.
Early morning fog and the potential for storms stopped Upper Makefield police from diving for 2-year-old Mattie Sheils and 9-month-old Conrad Sheils.
Thursday afternoon, K-9 teams from the Philadelphia Police Department arrived on the scene, and a large piece of equipment was being used to help move debris for the search.
"We are continuing to monitor the river and when the conditions allow, we will have dive teams respond again and conduct their search. Unfortunately, we do not anticipate that occurring today," Upper Makefield police said in a statement.
The search for the missing children has carried into its fifth day.
The mother of the two missing children is among the five who lost their lives in the flood. She and her children are from South Carolina and were headed to a family barbecue when they were caught in the flooding. Her husband and a 4-year-old son were able to escape the flood, but the mother, her children and a grandmother were overtaken by the waters.
Upper Makefield Fire Chief Tim Brewer said the rescue team has searched the entire mile-and-a-half flood zone. More than 100 rescuers were deployed along with drone surveillance and cadaver dogs, but there is still no sign of Mattie and Conrad.
Brewer says their focus will now shift from the land and shallow waters to an underwater dive mission.
"It is still an active search, we still have assets operating in the area and will continue to do so until we find what we are looking for, which are obviously two missing angels," Brewer said in a news conference.
The underwater dive mission begins after the kids were not found in searches of the land and shallow waters near Houghes Creek.
Officials will continue to monitor the weather and river conditions and say they'll pick the search back up as soon as they can. Their mission remains to bring Mattie and Conrad Sheils home.
Meanwhile, the small community of Upper Makefield remains shocked by the tragedy after five others were killed in the flash floods.
Search teams recovered the bodies of 78-year-old Enzo Depiero and 74-year-old Linda Depiero, along with 53-year-old Susan Barnhart, 64-year-old Yuko Love and 32-year-old Katheryn "Katie" Seley.
"Disbelief, because everybody was so about the river, and it was really on a road that nobody ever would've expected," Sheila Atamczyk, a friend of Barnhart, said.
Atamczyk worked just steps from Barnhart at the local post office. She says the two became fast friends.
"She's a fellow redhead, so we hit it off right off the bat," Atamczyk said.
Atamczyk also recalled the two of them recently playing carnival games.
"She wanted to get a bunch of goldfish, and she didn't do so well. Matter of fact she bought a box of fish. It was pretty bad," Atamczyk said.
Kyle McAllister has lived along Houghes Creek for the past eight years. He was one of the first to see rescue teams out Saturday night in his backyard after flash flooding swept away at least 11 cars from the Washington Crossing Road Bridge about a mile up.
McAllister walked along Houghes Creek for the first time Wednesday night since it turned deadly over the weekend. He said it's hard not to look out his window and wonder where the children could be.
"There's a part of me that doesn't want to come back here and see anything or find anything, but I think on the other side of it, I was in the position of the family I would want my loved ones found," McAllister said.