Overview

• On July 31, Mount Airy police, volunteer firefighters and sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a trapped individual at 201 W. Watersville Apartments after storms dropped up to 5 inches of rain locally.
• First responders from the Mount Airy Volunteer Fire Company and Carroll County Sheriff’s Office battled swift currents in an unprotected drainage pipe before recovering the 13-year-old boy, who succumbed to his injuries.
• The victim had been playing with friends when rapidly rising floodwaters rushed into the open drain and swept him inside, making rescue efforts impossible.
• Neighbors and bystanders jumped into waist-deep water in futile attempts to pull the boy from the narrow pipe, underscoring dangers of undersized, unshielded storm drains.
• The National Weather Service has flood watches in effect through Friday night and warns of continued flash and urban flooding risks across the northern mid-Atlantic and southern New England.