Daybreak on Tuesday morning meant rescue crews from around Pennsylvania and New Jersey returned to Upper Makefield Township to look for the two kids who were swept away in Saturday evening’s flooding and remained missing.
A convoy of fire trucks, rescue boats, and support vehicles descended along Taylorsville Road around 7 a.m. Tuesday.
Upper Makefield Township Volunteer Fire Company Chief Tim Brewer said at a Monday afternoon press briefing that the search would resume Tuesday.
“We are going to focus on areas where we believe we are going to have the most success,” Brewer said.
More than 100 searchers on Monday searched the area around the scene on Washington Crossing Road (Route 532), the Delaware Canal, the Delaware River, and the land between them.
Crews searched through debris pules and focused on a 40-acre site on Monday, Brewer said.
The search involved crews on foot, boats in the river, divers, sonar equipment, cadaver dogs, and drones.
While the search continued overnight, operations largely wound down as the night had fallen and resumed as daybreak came Tuesday.
Monday’s clear weather assisted with the search and allowed for more crews to scour the area for Matilda (Mattie) Sheils, 2, and Conrad Sheils, 9 months.
Bucks County Coroner Meredith Buck on Monday identified the victims as Enzo Depiero, a 78-year-old man from Newtown Township; Susan Barnhart, a 53-year-old woman from Titusville, New Jersey; Katheryn “Katie” Seley, a 32-year-old woman from Charleston, South Carolina; Yuko Love, a 64-year-old woman from Newtown Township; and Linda Depiero, a 74-year-old woman from Newtown Township.
All five victims’ autopsies were conducted Monday to ascertain the cause and manner of their deaths. The findings revealed that each of the victims succumbed to drowning as a direct result of the flash flood’s relentless force, Buck said.
Reporter Alex Irving contributed to this story.
