Police narrowly search for Pennsylvania infant lost in flash flood after 2-year-old sister’s body found

WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pennsylvania — Hours after authorities confirmed the body of his 2-year-old sister had been recovered from the Delaware River, a Pennsylvania search team focused on an underwater area on Sunday as they searched for a 9-month-old boy who had been swept away by a flash flood.

Upper Makefield Township Police said in a Facebook post on Sunday that 2-year-old Matilda Shales was “taken back to her loving family” after her body was recovered on Friday, but that authorities were “shocked that Conrad has yet to be reunited with her sister and family.”

Hundreds of people, including search and rescue teams, marines, police and firefighters, are searching the area with the help of “K-9s, sonar, drones, boats, divers, heavy equipment, GPS mapping and air force,” the police added, adding that the search is now in the “depending on river conditions” stage.

Officials plan to focus on areas near the point where the flooded creek empties into the Delaware River, deploying divers to the area when possible, and deploying K-9 units to islands in the river as water levels drop. Authorities in the south will also inspect areas along the river, police said.

“There are no words to describe our feelings other than our heartbreak. But the pain we are feeling is nothing compared to what these families have been through,” said the police statement, vowing to the missing boy, “We will never stop until we bring you home.”

The girl’s body was found Friday evening in a river near a sewage treatment plant in Philadelphia, about 30 miles from her home. taken awayofficials said Friday night. The Philadelphia coroner completed an investigation on Saturday and “ruled that the cause of death for Matilda Shales was drowning and the cause of death was accidental,” an office spokesperson said.

A family from Charleston, South Carolina, was visiting relatives and friends in the area and heading to a barbecue on the evening of July 15 when a car struck a “wall of water” from Huffs Creek, according to Upper Makefield Fire Chief Tim Brewer.

Brewer said the children’s father, Jim Shields, grabbed the couple’s 4-year-old son, while their mother, Katie Seeley, 32, and her grandmother grabbed the other children. Shields and her older boys were safely evacuated, but Seeley and her grandmother were washed away with the younger children. Her grandmother survived, but her mother died.

Four other people drowned in a suburb about 40 miles north of Philadelphia, according to the Bucks County coroner’s office. Enzo Depiero, 78, and Linda Depiero, 74, who live in Newtown. Yuko Love (64), who lives in New Town. and Susan Bernhardt, 53, of Titusville, New Jersey.