MOUNT AIRY, Md. — Too much water for it to drain.
Thursday’s downpour sent water over the banks of a stormwater holding area in Mount Airy taking 13-year-old Mason Kearns with it, pinning him inside a small culvert next to his home as his mother and older brother tried in vain to free him.
Mason’s brother flagged down a neighbor, Maggie McBain, as she was driving by.
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“When the brother said, ‘My brother is under the water. He’s been under there for five minutes,’ I flew out of the car and I was in the water, and I kept having to dive under the water and I was reaching my hands in there trying to get him out and it just wasn’t possible,” said McBain.
The town now will review all of its drain culverts and will form a task force focused on the potential of such weather events, but questions remain over why the drain above Mason’s home has a metal grate covering it and the one where he died less than a hundred yards away did not.
“I’m glad somebody jumped on it that quick, and I hope that they don’t… they keep it steady and keep it coming and nobody falters on that, because nothing like this can ever happen again,” added McBain.
While some applaud the town’s efforts, others question whether anything could have been done to prevent this tragedy.
“I think it was just so unexpected from every angle that I’m not sure if it would have helped or hurt,” said Lena White who lives in the nearby Friendly Acres townhouses, “because also with that much force and the vacuum of it, the drainage pipe, there still could have been harm and damage to anybody that is involved and then would be up against the drainage pipe even with the grate.”
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While no one can know for sure if an added grate could have saved Mason’s life, Maggie McBain is convinced it would have given him a better chance of survival.
“Even if he had been out, we could have resuscitated him,” the Good Samaritan told us, “I was an EMT for ten plus years and I know CPR. He was only under for five minutes and I could have saved him."
