Search for 5-year-old boy swept away in California flood waters turns up one Nike

SAN MIGUEL, Calif. - It's been two days since a 5-year-old California boy was swept away by raging floodwaters. Rescue crews aren't giving up on the search for him and on Wednesday went out again when the visibility and weather conditions improved.

Kyle Doan vanished Monday when he and his mother got stuck in a Chevrolet Traverse on their way to school, according to the San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Office and a family friend. 

Mother and son were driving along a rural path past wineries and ranches and crosses San Marcos Creek that feeds into the Salinas River.

Just before 8 a.m., their truck began filling with water near San Miguel, a small city inland from California’s central coast, according to Tom Swanson, assistant chief of the Cal Fire/San Luis Obispo County Fire Department.

Bystanders were able to pull the mother out of the truck, but the boy was swept downstream, Swanson said. 

A seven-hour search Monday turned up only one of his Nikes. The truck was found hours later, upside down and filled with mud. 

The New York Times reported that Kyle was a kindergartner where his mother was a special education teacher. 

Kyle's father told the Times that his wife wishes that the good Samaritans saved her son instead of herself. 

Kyle Doan, 5, was last seen wearing this jacket. Photo: GoFundMe

The sheriff shared photos of the flooded waters and rescue crews knee-deep in the muddy river. 

Storms have been raging throughout California since the day after Christmas and the sheriff noted that on Monday afternoon, weather conditions were making it unsafe for first responders as conditions were "extremely dangerous."

The sheriff noted that the water is high and fast-moving and that the public should stay away from the area.

Family friend Katarena Messer started a fundraiser for Kyle's mother, saying that the family's only focus is to find him. 

At least 17 people have died in the storms battering the state and that number is likely to rise.

Two of those deaths include 2-year-old Aeon Tocchini, who was killed when a redwood tree fell on his Sonoma County home and a 19-year-old driver in Fairfield, who hydroplaned on a patch of standing water, lost control of her car and slammed into a light pole. 

San Luis Obispo County rescue crews search for 5-year-old Kyle Doan who was swept away in floodwaters on Jan. 9, 2023. Photo: San Luis Obispo Sheriff 

San Luis Obispo County rescue crews search for 5-year-old Kyle Doan who was swept away in floodwaters on Jan. 9, 2023. Photo: San Luis Obispo Sheriff 

San Luis Obispo County rescue crews search for 5-year-old Kyle Doan who was swept away in floodwaters on Jan. 9, 2023. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.