“I tried to hold his hand.” Parents pray to find 5-year-old child swept away by raging California storm waters

The parents’ nightmare unfolded during a relentless storm in Southern California, when raging flood waters swept away a 5-year-old child.

In San Luis Obispo County, the search continues for 5-year-old Kyle, who was still missing on Wednesday.

When heavy rain hit the Central Coast on Monday, Lindsey Doan was driving her 5-year-old son Kyle to daycare.

“Kyle told me, ‘It’s okay, everything will be fine,’” Lindsey said.

At some point, they fell onto a flooded road near San Miguel.

“So when I entered the dip, I realized I made a mistake because it was filled from the bottom and my car started to drift and it hit two trees,” Lindsey said.

After they crashed into the trees, the water quickly rose.

“He unbuckled his seat belt and I told him to come out my door,” Lindsey said. “He came up to me and the current was so strong that when I tried to take his hand, my arm was wrapped around a tree and then the current pulled him away from me.”

Neighbors were able to help Lindsey escape, but Kyle, wearing a black puffer jacket, swam away.

“The water was very rough, so the water was splashing in my face and the current was dragging me down.”

“Kyle was drifting down the river and I could see his head bobbing on top of the river,” Lindsey said.

Nobody has seen him since. Lindsey said she couldn’t swim.

“Three people, good Samaritans, were on the side, and they heard my scream and saw Kyle swimming past, but he was in the middle of the river, and they couldn’t … it was too far. He floated on his back. and he was looking up,” Lindsey said.

Brian is a substitute teacher and he got the news when he arrived at the school.

“I immediately try to keep my composure from what she says. “I lost Kyle. I can’t find Kyle.” I’m thinking, “What’s going on?” Brian said.

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office led the search.

“Yesterday we searched until the weather made it impossible for us to continue searching,” said Tony Cipolla of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office. “We continued searching this morning and we have been searching all day. We’ve just completed the search for today and we still haven’t found the boy.”

Cipolla said that in the 30 years he has lived in the area, he has never seen such heavy rain in such a short amount of time as on that day.

“Not so long ago I was asked if this is a rescue or recovery mission. And I always say it’s a rescue mission until proven otherwise,” he said. find this little boy and we want to make sure the family has that hope too.”

Kyle Doan is an outgoing, intelligent five-year-old, the youngest of three children. His siblings are 18 and 16, so he’s the baby of the family. They say he’s always fooling around and trying to make people laugh.

“He’s my little guy,” Brian said.

His family hopes you will support them all in your prayers as they pray for a miracle.

“It’s tough because I would like him to come back,” Brian said.