Search is back on for five-year-old Kyle Doan caught in flood waters near San Miguel
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif. – Search and rescue operations resumed Tuesday morning for a missing five-year-old boy who was swept away on Monday by raging floodwaters near San Miguel, according to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff's office described the missing boy, Kyle Doan, as follows: "short dirty blond hair, hazel eyes, 4 feet tall, 52 pounds. Last seen wearing black puffer jacket with a red liner, blue jeans, blue and gray Nike tennis shoes."
Monday's search operations were discontinued after about five hours, according to the sheriff's office, because the extreme weather conditions made it unsafe for first responders to continue their efforts.
Officials said Tuesday's break in the intense storm allowed the search to resume, which will involve all available resources of the office including the Underwater Search and Rescue Team and air operations.
The sheriff's office said the conditions, however, remain extremely dangerous as the water level is high and continues to be fast moving.
Therefore, officials said they strongly caution the public against conducting self-initiated searches which could put themselves in harms way and require resources that would otherwise be used for searching.
If anyone has any information that could be helpful in this search, you can call the Sheriff's Office at 805-781-4550.
The following is from our sister-station, KION, based in Monterey County:
KION spoke with Kyle's father, Brian Doan, who says his family is devasted over what happened to their son. Brian says his wife did the correct thing and tried to rescue them both.
According to the SLO county Office of Emergency Services, a search and recovery for a five-year-old whose car was swept away by flood waters near San Marco Road during Monday's rain are underway in Paso Robles.
According to Cal Fire SLO, a white truck attempted to make a low water crossing when it became stuck in the current around 8 a.m. A passerby assisted the parent out of the car before the current became too strong, but they could not get the five-year-old out.
Brian Doan said his wife was taking her son to a San Miguel school where she is a teacher and Kyle was a student. The road looked no different than normal when their car got swept away.
Brian said his wife got her son safely out of the vehicle when the current separated them. That's when a person assisted her, and her son was too far away from them to rescue him safely. Brian says his wife is suffering from severe survivor's guilt, but that she did everything right.
He added that his wife was a former teacher at Gonzales Unified School District, and they were residents of King City for 13 years before moving to San Luis Obispo Count two years ago.
Kyle is the youngest of three children. Their eldest son is in college and graduated from King City High School, and their youngest daughter is a junior in high school.
Kyle had a rod removed from his leg after fracturing his femur in pre-school. They just went on a family cruise shortly after New Year. Brian says the family is just searching for closure at this moment.
The family believes the current might have swept Kyle into Monterey County.
Ricardo Tovar / KION 46
The following is News Channel 3-12's coverage from Monday, Jan. 9 regarding this search:
A search and recovery for a five-year-old whose car was swept away by flood waters near San Marco Road during Monday's rain is underway in Paso Robles, according to the SLO county Office of Emergency Services.
According to Cal Fire SLO, a white truck attempted to make a low water crossing when it became stuck in the current around 8 a.m. A passerby was able to assist the parent out of the car before the current became too strong, but were unable to get the five-year-old out.
All responding parties reported difficulty accessing the area due to down trees and flooding.
