Monday started out like any other day for Brian and Lindsy Doan. It would turn into a nightmare when her 5-year-old son, Kyle, was swept away by floodwaters while his mother was driving him to school.
“It’s hard to process,” Brian said. “My wife is getting better, but as things have turned out, she is struggling. We all are.”
As they were driving to Lillian Larsen Elementary School in San Miguel, California, that morning, their car hit a pothole in the road and began to slide into a torrent that broke through on the banks of San Marcos Creek.
The car hit a tree and began to fill with water. Lindsy, a teacher at Kyle’s elementary school, he tried desperately to hold on to his son’s tiny hand.
Although law enforcement officials said Wednesday that the search for Kyle was still considered a rescue operation, it did not ease the family’s sense of loss.
“Every day it gets harder, because we just don’t have the answers,” said Brian Doan. “It is what it is.”
The family had passed the intersection countless times, including the night before. Neither Lindsy nor Brian suspected that they would have to modify their daily commute during a storm.
“It was in the way you take the road you normally take, because there was no reason to take a detour,” Brian said. “You think everything is working the way it’s supposed to.”
Kyle, the youngest of three children, is a classic little brother: funny, outgoing and often the center of attention, his father said, describing him as full of energy.
“He was a very outgoing and affectionate child. He had no problem making friends.”
Kyle enjoys playing soccer and watching “PAW Patrol,” Brian added. In November, doctors removed a rod from his left leg following a fractured femur the previous year, and Kyle was eager to make a full recovery.
“He played soccer for a year with that rod,” Brian said. “You would never have known that he was hurt.”
Kyle was lost in a succession of relentless storms that have battered California over the past two weeks, contributing to 17 deaths.
As the water entered their car, Lindsy told Kyle to unbuckle his seat so they could escape. She clung to the tree with one hand and reached for her son with the other.
Kyle was swept away by the current as she screamed for help.
“The water was very rough so I was getting splashed in my face and the current was pulling me under,” Lindsy said. Los Angeles.
“Kyle was drifting down the river, and I could see his head bobbing at the top of the river.”
Nearby homeowners searched for a rope and managed to rescue Lindsy, who was closest to the bank. Kyle was too far away to catch up.
“I’m lucky he’s still here,” said Brian, who at the time was driving his 16-year-old daughter to high school. “But there will always be that issue of survivor’s guilt.”
As more storms fueled by moisture bands called atmospheric rivers head to California, a rescue operation for Kyle continued Wednesday in San Luis Obispo County, where teams, K-9 units and divers from surrounding counties were brought in to help navigate debris-filled floodwaters.
“We continue to hope for the best,” said Grace Norris, a spokeswoman for the San Luis Obispo sheriff.