Five dead after flash floods in the US: children missing

The United States is currently experiencing heat and heavy rains again and again. Several people died after floods in Pennsylvania.

Flooded streets after rain in the USHasan Jamali/FR171962 AP

After torrential rain in the US state of Pennsylvania, the death toll has risen to five. Two small children aged nine months and two years are still missing, the local police said on Sunday evening (local time). The victims were washed away in their cars on a street on Saturday afternoon.

The accident happened on the border with the US state of New Jersey near the city of Trenton. The mother of the two children was among the dead. The police said it was a family from the southern state of South Carolina.

Accident in Pennsylvania: More rain than ever

“This has been an incredible shock to all families affected, all first responders and our community as a whole,” the police wrote of the accident. Tim Brewer of the local fire department had previously said around 17 centimeters of rain fell in less than an hour. In his 44-year career he has never seen anything like it. The authorities had made it clear that they did not really expect to find any survivors.

The USA is currently being hit by extreme weather. While millions of people in the south of the country are groaning under a heat wave, severe flooding has repeatedly occurred in the north-east in recent days.