Residents of Trestle Road in Plum were coming to grips Saturday with the loss Friday of three of their neighbors in the flash flood that engulfed cars on Washington Boulevard and Allegheny River Boulevard in Pittsburgh.

And on Archie Street in Oakmont, the loss of a vigorous 72-year-old leaves a void.

"We're all just devastated," Susan McGinnis said of the death of Kimberly Griffith, 45, and the two youngest of her children, Brenna, 12, and Mikaela, 8, when their car was submerged in the fast-flowing water.

The surge in the flow of water also swept Mary Saflin to her death. She was on the phone with her daughter when it suddenly cut off. Officials believe she was swept into a storm sewer before her body was found along the edge of the Allegheny River and identified Saturday morning.

Ms. Saflin lived on Archie Street with her husband Joseph since 1976.

Their neighbor, Barb Crnjarich, said her uncle, Carl Vinante, was one of the regulars who joined Ms. Saflin for walks on the river trail.

Ms. Crnjarich said Ms. Saflin became "like my second mother when my mother passed in 2004. My dad passed in 2000, and she took care of my uncle and me. She made nutbread for us, brought us cookies, made stuffed peppers, ham and cabbage.

"When it snows, she would be out there shoveling at 5 a.m., doing her place and our place. She has a garden and told my uncle to come on down and get parsley anytime he wanted it. She will be missed so much."

Besides her husband, she is survived by a son, Nick Saflin, and a daughter, Josephine Zischkau. Her daughter said Saturday that she wasn't ready to talk about her mother. Funeral arrangements are pending.

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They called her "Saint Kimberly."

A school nurse by trade and mother of four, Mrs. Griffith offered her trademark affection and generosity to her neighbors on Trestle Road as if they were members of her own family, delivering full course meals to neighbors who were ailing and serving as an emotional bedrock for those going through tough times.

Her two youngest daughters, Brenna and Mikaela, took after her in that regard, bringing infectious joy and silliness to the street, an enclave off of Saltsburg Road.

The girls and their mother were on their way back from having lunch with their father, Chris Griffith, a safety officer at UPMC Shadyside, when their minivan was flooded with storm water. Unable to escape, all three drowned inside the van. Submerged in 9 feet of water, it was undetected by rescuers who plucked survivors from deluged cars nearby.

Saturday afternoon, grief-stricken relatives and friends gathered at the family's home on Trestle Road, where the Griffiths built a children's paradise. In their vast backyard stood a wooden play set and a trampoline. Haley Held, a neighbor who called the girls "my little sisters," recalled that the garage was so full of playthings -- footballs, soccer balls, hula hoops and bikes -- that cars no longer fit.

"She was a caring and devoted mother," said her brother-in-law, Scott Griffith, of Murrysville. "There's nothing she wouldn't do for her children."

She was introduced to his brother at a party and the attraction between the two of them was instant. Always un-self-consciously affectionate, the two were soul mates, and the "honeymoon phase" of the relationship never really ended, Scott Griffith said.

In a home on a big grassy lot in Plum, the couple was raising four children. Mrs. Griffith was supermom, heading up Girl Scout troops and Cub Scout dens, shuttling the kids to sports practices and hosting sleepovers, parties and social gatherings in addition to tending to sick students in the Penn Hills School District as a school nurse.

A devoted member of the Murrysville Community Church, she rarely missed services and traveled to Belize for service trips.

Cecelia Henry, who lives across the street, said Mrs. Griffith brought over a chicken dinner when she had cancer and checked in on her frequently after her husband died.

"That's what she did for anybody that needed help," she said. "She was always concerned about everybody."

Joy Tsounas, her friend and neighbor, said Mrs. Griffith served as an invaluable source of support after her cousin got in a diving accident a decade ago.

"She was my rock," she said.

A petite, fit woman, she was endlessly energetic and looked younger than her age and sometimes acted that way, too. She accompanied her kids as they sled down a nearby hill in the wintertime and loved to boogie board.

The girls, too, brought smiles to those around them. Mr. Griffith said they were perpetually smiling and prodding him to horseplay.

"They would win your hearts," she said.

Haley's mother Mary Beth Held said she was "very fond" of Brenna, whose strong will and occasional bossiness reminded her of herself. She was about to start at Oblock Middle School.

Brenna and Mikaela were frequently visitors at her home, where they'd munch on popsicles and help with the gardening.

"They were little rays of sunshine," she said.

Her grandmother, Cornelia Griffith, recalled the girl would give fruit tarts she made from berries she picked in the backyard to family members.

And Mikaela, too, was "starting to come into her own" said Haley.

It was clear the deaths still hadn't sunk in: throughout the day Saturday, Mrs. Held said she frequently reached for her phone to call Mrs. Griffith. If tragedy struck another family, she said, the two would team up to help them in any way they could.

"I keep thinking I need to call her because there's a family to help," she said. "But it's her family. She's gone."

As questions swirl about how Washington Boulevard was inundated by storm water, the family declined comment about the circumstances that led the deaths, saying they did not want to finger "a scapegoat."

But Mrs. Held, who said the road is frequently traveled by Plum residents commuting to Pittsburgh, said that something should have been done to address rainwater before Friday's storm.

"This was something that could have been prevented," she said, her voice laced with anger. "Maybe they'll do something about it now."

Ms. McGinnis, who lives across the street from the Griffith family, said Brenna and Mikaela, "were classic little girls who played outside after dinner. They were kind little girls. They loved their dog, a chocolate Lab they got a year ago.

"This is a humongous loss," she said. "It's like the neighborhood has lost members of its family." Besides their immediate family, the three are survived by Mrs. Griffith's mother, Charles and Sallie Mateyak, and siblings Christine, Paul, Megan and Matt; and the girls' grandparents Watned and Cornelia Griffith.

Visitation is scheduled for Monday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Tuesday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m at Jobe Funeral Home, 118 Shaw Ave., Turtle Creek. Services are scheduled for Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Murrysville Community Church. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to a memorial fund, care of Christopher Griffith, at any S&T Bank.

Lillian Naccarati, superintendent of the Plum Borough School District, said a fund has been set up for donations. The Griffith Family Memorial Fund, in the name of W. Christopher Griffith, can be made at any S & T Bank, she said, adding, "We are heartbroken."

Grief counseling will be available for students and their families on Monday, Aug. 22 and Tuesday, Aug. 23 at the Center Elementary School and Obloch Junior High School.

First Published: August 21, 2011, 8:00 a.m.