UPDATE: Bodies of both missing NC children found after mother’s car floods during storm
The bodies of both North Carolina children who were washed away after their mother’s car was overcome by rising floodwaters have now been recovered.
Search crews found the body of 5-year-old Alexa Castro on Wednesday, according to news outlet WXII. The station reports that the body of Abraham Martinez, age 4, was recovered Thursday.
The children’s mother, according to North Carolina firefighters, was rescued Monday night after part of Galilee Road in Smithfield was washed out.
Smithfield,NC*Water Rescue*
— NCFireFighters (@ncfirefighters) September 1, 2020
<01:00] A woman was rescued
from heavy flood waters, her 2
children missing, 4 rescue boats
capsized during the operation,
and workers were also rescued.
Search continues for the children.
photos>@ABC11_WTVD
Johnston County #FireinNC pic.twitter.com/nzs9r7Vphp
Four rescue boats capsized during the rescue attempt, but all of the workers were rescued, according to Smithfield Fire Chief John Blanton.
“The amount of water and the current is so strong, it overcomes you when you start to turn a boat, and you’re in debris and tress and such, so they were fighting against that as well, so they’d hit a tree, they’d flip over,” Blanton told local reporters.
WRAL-TV reported during the initial rescue attempts that rescuers found the boy but the girl was nowhere to be seen. First responders held onto the mother, but the boy slipped away when the boat capsized. Crews found the woman’s white sedan a short distance downstream, but nobody was inside.
Local authorities said Alexa Castro’s body was found Wednesday afternoon in a creek near the Neuse River.
The bulk of Monday night’s rain fell in Smithfield, which saw up to 8 inches.
About the Author
Tim Darnell is an Atlanta native and veteran of several local, national, and international news, business and sports publications.
