MOUNT AIRY, Md. — A heartbroken community in Mount Airy, Maryland, is mourning the loss of a 13-year-old boy, who died during the flash flooding in the mid-Atlantic Thursday.
He was just playing with a friend outside when torrential rains sent water rushing down a grassy area and swept him into a small drainage pipe.
Neighbors first jumped into action, trying to get him out, but the current was too strong.
Chadwick Colson lives steps away from where it happened and had placed a flower on top of the pipe Friday morning.
“Obviously, there’s a mother and a father that put that there that don’t have a son no more,” Colson said. “That’s always terrible.”
Colson said firefighters had hoses going into the drain trying to pump out as much water as they could.
“You could tell they were definitely holding on to something or someone,” he said.
This was one of many water rescue efforts across the region, as strong storms moved up and down the I-95 corridor.
In Mount Airy, Doug Alexander, the public information officer for the volunteer fire company, said at least 50 first responders desperately tried to free the boy. But by the time they got him out, he had already died.
“The water was deep – it was about 5 feet deep at the pipe,” Alexander said, adding water spread about 30-40 feet each side of the drainage ditch.
One rain gauge in Mount Airy picked up at least 4 inches of rain in less than 3 hours.
The town is now organizing a fund for people to help the family of the boy who died.
