Delco crews searching the Chester Creek for a missing 6-year-old

Emergency response crews from across Delaware County and the region were searching the Chester Creek late Saturday for reports of a 6-year-old who reportedly fell into its rain-swollen waters.

The child, who was not identified by first responders, was reported missing just before 8 p.m. after playing near the creek at East 7th Street and the Avenue of the States in downtown Chester, according to Delaware County Director of Emergency Management Tim Boyce.

The creek had crested just above “moderate” flood stage several hours earlier, according to the U.S. Geologlical Survey. Heavy rains — over 3 inches officially at Philadelphia International Airport, a record for the date, and the month — had swollen the creek.

Boyce said the rains had added force to the current.

The search for the child involved Chester police, as well as multiple other fire and police departments from throughout Delaware County, according to Boyce. Additional crews from Wilmington, as well as the U.S. Coast Guard’s base in South Philadelphia were also being called in. They were combing the rivers banks, as well as searching within its waters.

The creek has had a history of flooding, having reached the “major” flood stage 24 times since 1950, according to the National Weather Service.

In 1971, a 16-foot tidal wave of water erupted from the Chester Creek, killed 10 people in Chester, rampaged through the downtown, devastating businesses, and effectively erased the former Eyre Park, displacing 216 households, among 450 citywide, according to reports at the time.