Aug. 1 (UPI) — A 13-year old boy in Maryland died after being swept into a storm drainage pipe and drowned during a heavy rainstorm.

The teen was found at 5:30 p.m. EDT Thursday in Mt. Airy, Maryland. Firefighters said he lived in one of the apartments in the area.

The boy was playing in the water with some friends around 5 p.m., police said. The water rose quickly and moved fast. Authorities got multiple calls about a child in distress.

Chadwick Colson, who lives just feet from where the tragedy happened, described the emotional toll on people in the area.

“It’s very devastating; it literally happened right outside my front door. I have to walk past it every day knowing that some young boy died right there… I have a daughter myself, she’s 18 months, so she’s not outside running around in the water, but obviously something I need to think about,” Colson told Fox5.

“I can tell you what I saw,” Colson said. “[First responders] were fighting with everything they could. Once the water started backing up against them, it changed the fight. There was really not a whole lot they could do.”

Fire spokesperson Doug Alexander said there is a storm drain tank outside of an apartment complex, and when it overflows, the water drains out into a grassy area.

Alexander said the water was chest to waist deep as first responders tried to pull the teen from the drain.

“The pipe is so small, and this is a child’s body that fits in there, was pushed in there by the current,” he said. “The current was extremely strong, according to the guys who were on the scene here. I’ve been with the Mt. Airy Fire Department for 58 years, and this is, this is one of the worst situations I’ve seen.”

Colson told CBS News that kids were “playing around, jumping across the water, because when it rains it really kind of comes through here like a river.”

He said his apartment was also flooded with water up to his ankles.

“I don’t know if we can stay here tonight,” Colson said. “One, the apartment’s flooded, and two, that’s 40 feet from my door. You would think it would be some type of metal bars, metal grate, something blocking the hole.”

Because flash floods happen quickly, it’s important to stay aware when storms like this come through.

“Take the warnings more seriously when they tell you to stay inside and get out, do what they say. That’s there for a reason,” Colson told CBS.