Police are searching for two young boys on Staten Island who were reported missing in the aftermath of Sandy, which hit the outer borough particularly hard with flooding.
About 20 police officers from the NYPD Scuba Unit have fanned out across a Staten Island marsh on Father Capodanno Boulevard in search of the boys, 2 and 4 years old. Their mother told police the boys were swept away by rising waters as the storm hit Monday night.
The mother had been stranded in the marsh at the height of the storm with the boys, authorities said. She told police that as the water started to rise, the car stalled and she got out of the car clutching the 2-year-old son in her arms and her 4-year-old son by the hand.
As the surge came through, she lost her grip on her son and the boys were swept away by the water, she told police. She said she tried to get help but no one was around.
As the storm worsened, she became stranded, she said. She wound up in a the marsh, where she hung to a tree. She was able to make her way out around 7:30 a.m. and flagged police.
Police are conducting a grid search around the marsh. The mother's blue SUV was pulled out of the marsh earlier Wednesday.
