Victims of Bucks County flash flooding identified amid search for two missing children
PHILADELPHIA - Officials have identified five people who died over the weekend when flash flooding swept through areas of Bucks County, leaving a mother dead and two children missing.
Meredith J. Buck from the Bucks County Coroners' Office said Enzo DePiero, 78, Susan Barnhart, 53, Katheryn Seley, 32, Yuko Love, 64, and Linda DePiero, 74 all died by drowning.
Buck read the names in the order their bodies were recovered by search and rescue crews, adding that three were found on Saturday and two bodies were recovered on Sunday.
Both the DePieros and Love were local to Newtown, Pennsylvania. Barnhart was a resident of Titusville, New Jersey which is located just across the river from Washington Crossing.
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Missing children identified after flash flooding kills 5 in Bucks County
A 9-month-old boy and his 2-year-old sister are still missing after devastating flash flooding claimed the lives of five people in Bucks County over this weekend.
Seley was part of a family of five visiting from Charleston, South Carolina when their family vehicle was one of several cars swept up in flash flooding while driving to a barbeque.
"We would like to affirm to everybody: These people did not drive into high water, they were caught," officials said Monday. "The wall of water came to them, they did not go to the water."
Enzo and Linda DePiero (Family Handout)
The corner's office concluded that each person died from drowning, adding that Love also sustained multiple injuries that contributed to her death.
A relative of the Seley family asked for continued prayers in the ongoing search for 9-month-old Conrad and 2-year-old Matilda "Mattie" Sheils.
Search continues for 2 children missing in Bucks County flash flooding
Officials on Monday identified the five people who were killed when flash flooding swept through parts of Bucks County over the weekend, including a mother whose two children - 9-months-old and 2-years-old - still have not been found.
"As you can imagine, we are utterly devastated by the incredible loss our family has suffered," Scott Ellias told reporters at a Monday afternoon press conference.
Seley's husband, Jim, their 4-year-old son Jack, and Seley's mother, all managed to escape their vehicle without injury.
The search for the two children which has so far spanned 1.5 miles and 117 acres continued Tuesday, with crews using scouring grounds previously submerged in water and nearby rivers and creeks.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation on Tuesday reopened the stretch of River Road that was heavily damaged during the deadly flooding.