Five dead and two children still missing after cars swept away in Pennsylvania flash flooding

Bucks County hit by up to seven inches of rain in just 45 minutes say officials

Five people have been confirmed dead while a baby and a toddler remain missing after cars were swept away as a flash flood swamped a Pennsylvania road.

The nine-month-old baby and his two-year-old sister have been missing since the floods hit at the weekend, while the mother of the pair is among the dead.

Authorities say that the flooding took place at around 5.30pm on Saturday when torrential rain hit the Washington Crossing area of Makefield Township.

The area in Bucks County was hit by up to seven inches of rain in just 45 minutes, Fire Chief Tim Brewer told reporters.

“In my 44 years, I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. “When the water came up, it came up very swiftly. We do not think that anybody drove into it, that they were actively on that road when it happened.”

Chief Brewer said that there were 11 vehicles on the road when the water level on it rose to around five feet and three cars were swept away.

During a Sunday afternoon update, he said the three missing were a nine-month-old boy, and a two-year-old girl from the same family. Their names have not been released.

All three cars were found by rescuers but had no occupants inside, said Chief Brewer.

“We are treating this as a rescue but we are fairly certain we are in a recovery mode at this time,” he added.

Witness Nick Primola told Action News that cars were swept away upside down after the intense storm.

“There were about five to seven minutes in there when, really, the sky opened up,” he recalled.

“I guess it was just fortunate timing because the people who were there probably just 10 minutes before didn’t have as much luck. They really didn’t have any warning and they were caught up in it.”

Storms in the northeast had 55 million people under flood threats on Sunday and 14 million under a tornado watch.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for large parts of the region, including parts of the New York City area and heavy rainfall is predicted for New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington DC.