Flash floods sparked by heavy rain hit parts of Virginia, western Maryland and Pennsylvania this week, leaving a 12-year-old boy dead in Virginia and forcing elementary schools in rural Maryland to evacuate, authorities said.
Search and rescue crews believe they found the body of the missing boy, Jordan Sims, at around 8:45 a.m. Wednesday morning, Albemarle County Fire Rescue said. The Medical Examiner's Office in Richmond will confirm the identity.
"This is a heartbreaking outcome, and our hearts are with the Sims' family and loved ones," said Albemarle County Fire Rescue Chief Dan Eggleston in a statement. "We are incredibly grateful to our local and regional partners who supported this search effort with urgency, professionalism, and care."
The fire rescue service had said Tuesday night that county police received a call late in the afternoon about a boy being swept away by a flood-swollen creek. The fire department said search efforts had to be put on hold after about three hours, "due to limited visibility in the overnight hours and the safety of all those involved."
The search resumed early Wednesday. A spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management told CBS News in a statement that it had sent teams to assist local officials as they worked to locate locate the boy.
Elsewhere, flooding left parts of Meyersdale Borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, underwater after heavy rains pounded the area on Tuesday.
Floodwaters were beginning to recede Wednesday morning across a hard-hit section of Maryland, where earlier this week an elementary school was evacuated and students at a middle school were ordered to shelter in place, according to the Allegany County Department of Emergency Services. Transportation in the area remained limited, as debris blocked some roads in the region and others were washed out, officials said. Maryland has not reported anyone missing or injured because of the flooding.
Homes flooded in southern PennsylvaniaLocal officials issued disaster declarations in several southern Pennsylvania towns in response to flooding. The Emergency Management Agency in Somerset County, near the Maryland border, ordered a flood watch for residents that remained in effect through 8 a.m. ET on Wednesday as some central parts of the county received 5 inches of rain and prepared for potentially even more.
Residents in low-lying areas of Meyersdale, in Somerset County, were ordered to evacuate Tuesday as the Casselman River rose precipitously.
"We are seeing flooding in the majority of the houses in town," Meyersdale Mayor Shane Smith said, according to KDKA, CBS Pittsburgh. "Some even as high as the first floor. Roads throughout the area are being destroyed by the fast-moving water. … This is some of the most severe flooding we've ever seen."
Smith declared a state of emergency for Meyersdale. He said there were no reported injuries, and that both federal and state emergency management personnel were expected in the town on Wednesday to help coordinate the response.
There were also reports of flood and storm related road closures and some damage in Bedford and Campbell Counties in Virginia, and a hospital being partially flooded in eastern Tennessee, near the Virginia state line. Authorities said two women had to be rescued from an inundated vehicle on a washed out road in Bedford.
Rural western Maryland schools forced to evacuateAbout 100 miles north, in the far western corner of Maryland, the North Branch Potomac River and some tributaries burst their banks on Tuesday, forcing the evacuation of schools and businesses.
An aerial photo shows the flooded downtown area of Westernport, Maryland, May 13, 2025.
Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post/Getty
According to KDKA, about 150 students and 50 adults had to be evacuated from the Westernport Elementary School. The floodwaters rose so quickly and entered the building that brothers William and Quinton Wade were left trapped inside with dozens of others.
"Whenever we were going down to get in the boat, the first floor was flooded," Quinton, a second grader at the school, told KDKA.
"The first floor had been flooded all the way to the ceiling," added William, who is in fourth grade.
"I didn't get any call from the school. I didn't know any plan. I didn't know anything. So, my instinct was, get my kids," the boys' mother, Alley Wade, told KDKA. She said she rushed from her job to the school, but found the water too high for her to do anything, so she waited while the rescuers in boats saved her kids and dozens of others.
Alley Wade said she had never seen such severe flooding in their town.
"I have never. Now, I believe there was a bad flood in 1996, but I was 4," she said.
Officials said about 150 students and 50 adults had to be evacuated from the flooded Westernport Elementary School in western Maryland, May 13, 2025.
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While the Wades' home was unscathed, some homes and businesses in Westernport were inundated Tuesday after hours of heavy rain.
In a statement released in the early Wednesday morning hours, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore urged people in the affected region to "remain vigilant, heed warnings from local officials, and prioritize safety during this time," adding: "If you don't have to go out, please do not go out. Stay off the roads if possible and heed any evacuation orders."
According to the governor's office, parts of Allegany County had already seen at least 4.65 inches of rain in 24 hours, and more rain was expected into Wednesday morning.
The statement said the North Branch Potomac River in Cumberland was expected to peak at 22.6 feet Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, "which would mark the highest river crest since 1996."
"We remain in close contact with local officials and continue to coordinate resources as the rain continues to fall," Moore said in the statement.
The flooding comes on the heels of a new study by the climate science group World Weather Attribution, published this week, that found deadly storms that tore through eight U.S. states in the Midwest and South in the first week of April, killing at least 24 people, were made significantly worse by human-caused climate change.
The group said its analysis showed that human-caused global warming made the record-breaking downpours about 9% heavier than they would otherwise have been.
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