Families, friends remember those lost in Bucks County flash flooding

Officials are still searching for 2-year-old Matilda Sheils and her 9-month-old brother, Conrad.

Trish Hartman Image
Thursday, July 20, 2023
Families mourn flood victims killed in Bucks County, Pa. storm
Linda and Enzo De Piero were on their way home from one of their favorite restaurants when they were caught in the flood and did not survive. They were married for 41 years.

UPPER MAKEFIELD TWP., Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- Family members are speaking out about the devastating loss following a deadly flash flood over the weekend in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Action News spoke with the son and daughter-in-law of Enzo De Piero, 78, and Linda De Piero, 74. Both victims were swept away in the storm.

Zack De Piero remembers the call he got from police that night.

"Everything starts moving in slow motion and the ground underneath you is starting to give," Zack recalled about learning about his parents.

Linda De Piero, 74, and Enzo De Piero, 78

Linda and Enzo were on their way home from one of their favorite restaurants when they were caught in the flood and lost their lives. They were married for 41 years.

SEE ALSO: Effort to find 2 children lost in Bucks flash flood experiences 'setback' due to weather: Police

"My mom and dad believed in me. Nothing was conditional. Everything was unconditional," said Zack.

Outside the Washington Crossing Post Office, flowers have been left in memory of employee Susan Barnhart, who also died. Others who work in the businesses nearby say she had a quiet but quick sense of humor and will be sorely missed.

"Everybody loved her," said Sheila Adamczyk of Yardley.

Susan Barnhar

We also spoke with Dave Love on the phone.

He's still in the hospital after being caught in the raging waters. He and his wife, Yuko, were on Route 532 when their vehicle got stuck. When they got out of the vehicle the water suddenly overcame them.

"And then another wall of water - higher - came down the hill. It knocked me down. I do not remember if I still had hold of my wife or not, which bothers me to no end because what if I pulled her with me?" said Love over the phone.

Love said he was pulled underwater.

"I went underneath the guardrail. The water forced me underneath the guardrail," he said.

Love was eventually able to grab onto a tree and was later rescued. His wife did not survive.

"Very smart woman. She showed me all sorts of things I wouldn't have experienced without her," he said.

They were married for more than 30 years.

Love needs to have surgery for a broken arm as he comes to terms with this loss.

And officials are still searching for 2-year-old Matilda Sheils and her 9-month-old brother, Conrad.

Photos of the children were provided by the Upper Makefield Twp. Police Department by permission of the family.

The children are members of a Charleston, South Carolina, family that was visiting relatives and friends when they got hit by a "wall of water" Saturday, Upper Makefield Fire Chief Tim Brewer said.

The children's father, Jim Sheils, grabbed their 4-year-old son, while the children's mother, Katie Seley, and a grandmother grabbed the other children, Brewer said.

Sheils and his son made it to safety, but Seley and the grandmother were swept away.

The grandmother survived, but Seley was among the five people who drowned, according to the Bucks County Coroner's office.