Boy, 13, dies after getting trapped in a storm drain during East Coast flooding

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This article was published 01/08/2025 (446 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MOUNT AIRY, Md. (AP) — A 13-year-old boy died after he was trapped in a storm drain in Maryland during heavy rainfall and flooding on the East Coast that also led to rescues from cars that were submerged in floodwaters, officials said.

Kids were playing in the rain Thursday in a common area between apartment buildings in Mount Airy, a town of about 10,000 people about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Baltimore, but floodwaters rushed in and the boy was swept into the pipe, according to Mount Airy Volunteer Fire Company spokesperson Doug Alexander.

People tried to rescue the boy, but the water pressure was too strong and kept pushing him further into the pipe, he said. After the rain slowed, they were able to free him, but it was too late, Alexander said.

In Maryland’s Washington, D.C. suburbs, first responders received a handful of calls about cars submerged in floodwaters Thursday afternoon. In one instance, firefighters in Montgomery County found an 8-year-old boy standing on top of a submerged SUV while a woman and toddler were trapped inside, officials said. All three were successfully brought to safety, said Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service Assistant Chief Daniel Ogren.

More storms might bring flash and urban flooding to the northern mid-Atlantic and southern New England through Friday night, the National Weather Service warned.

Parts of the Baltimore area received 2.5 to 4 inches (6 to 10 centimeters) Thursday, according to the weather service, but isolated areas received more, including 5 inches (nearly 13 centimeters) in Mount Airy and 6 inches (15 centimeters) in Joppatowne northeast of Baltimore, where people were rescued from flooded cars.

A few areas in New York and New Jersey saw 3 inches (nearly 8 centimeters) or more of rain and one part of central Long Island reported more than 4 inches (10 centimeters), according to the weather service.

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By Friday morning, subways and commuter rail routes in the New York area were running on normal schedules after some sections were inundated by floodwaters. The city’s Department of Transportation also reported that roads and highways that had been shut down due to high water Thursday were reopened.

A few dozen flights were delayed or canceled at major airports in the New York, Boston and Washington regions Friday morning, but most were running on time, according to the FlightAware tracking service.

Power remained out to thousands of homes and businesses along the Eastern Seaboard on Friday morning, including nearly 5,000 in New York, 3,800 in Virginia, 2,500 in Maryland and 2,500 in Pennsylvania, according to PowerOutage.us.

Amtrak trains between Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware, were stopped Thursday evening because of high water over the tracks, but Amtrak announced a few hours later that service had been restored and water was receding from the tracks.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other local officials pleaded with people Thursday to stay off the roads and urged residents in basement apartments to move to higher locations as rain was expected to fall through Friday afternoon.