A 5-year-old boy disappeared in rising floodwaters Monday on California's Central Coast as a winter storm pummeled the state for hours with unrelenting rain.
The boy’s mother was driving a truck when it as stranded near Paso Robles, about 250 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Witnesses pulled the woman to safety, but the boy was swept out of the truck and carried away in the rushing water.
He was identified as Kyle Doan in a sheriff's department statement issued Tuesday. Kyle was wearing a black puffer jacket with a red liner, blue jeans, blue and gray Nike tennis shoes at the time he disappeared.
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The water that carried Kyle away likely flowed into a nearby river, said Tom Swanson, assistant chief of the Cal Fire/San Luis Obispo County Fire Department.
A roughly seven-hour search for the boy turned up only his shoe. The search was called off Monday night as water levels were too dangerous for divers, but expected to resume Tuesday.
"A break in the intense storms is allowing today's search which will involve all available resources of the Sheriff's Office including the USAR (Underwater Search and Rescue) Team and air operations," the sheriff's department said in its statement. "The conditions, however, remain extremely dangerous. The water level is high and continues to be fast moving."
The storm hammered California Monday, triggering mudslides and debris flows, forcing evacuations and road closures, and flooding creeks and neighborhoods. More rain will soak the state Tuesday before the system tapers off into the afternoon.
At least 14 people have died since the winter storms began last week. Another storm was expected to arrive Wednesday, raising the flood threat in already saturated parts of the state.
California state highway authorities said late Monday night that parts of U.S. and state highways were closed because of flooding, mud or rockslides, heavy snow or car spinouts and truck crashes. The closures included northbound lanes of the 101 Freeway.
