Brian Doan remembers waving to his son Monday morning as the 5-year-old and his mother boarded the SUV with his mother for his first day of kindergarten since the holidays.
Not long after that sweet goodbye, tragedy struck.
As Doan was dropping off his daughter at school, he received a call that no parent wanted to hear: “Kyle is gone,” his wife, clearly heartbroken, shouted into the phone. Kyle Doan, 5, was swept away by rising floodwaters in San Miguel, California, submerging their car on the way to school.
Kyle’s mother, Lindsy Doan, managed to escape with the help of some good Samaritans, but a strong current swept her son out of her arms as they tried to reach safety, Brian. speak. Despite a massive search, Kyle has not been seen since.
Brian said Lindsy’s Chevrolet Traverse was found a few hours later – upside down and full of debris. He thinks their family would have solved the problem with the two missing people if Lindsy hadn’t tried to get out of the car when she did.
“When they said they lost Kyle, I just thought, ‘Oh, my God, this can’t be true,'” Brian told The Daily Beast Wednesday, his voice cracking. “But you quickly realized you had to act, so I started making calls.”
Now, more than 48 hours since Kyle went missing, Brian admits that his son is unlikely to be found alive. He still holds out hope, but says his family really needs to shut down.
Rescuers search for Kyle Doan near San Miguel, California.
San Luis Obispo . County Sheriff’s Office
Brian said: “Right now, we’re just looking forward to some ending, just some news to take us out of this horribly waiting game. “I know the next point and it’s not what you’d expect, but we have to get through it.”
Kyle’s disappearance comes at a very difficult time for Doan’s family: Just last week, his wife’s grandfather passed away, and they are still reeling from that loss.
Brian said he is heartbroken that Kyle, who recently needed three surgeries and a metal rod to heal a broken femur, will likely never play ball as he would like since the injury. on the kindergarten playground in 2021.
“He was very adaptable to the recovery process,” says Brian. “He just got back to running, playing football and being a kid again. He’s waited and worked a long time for that.”
Over breakfast together early Monday, Brian said Kyle was looking forward to getting back to school and his friends. It was the first day back not only for his three children but also for him – a substitute teacher at a middle school – and his wife, a special education teacher at his school. Kyle.
Brian said: “He is motivated and happy to be back with his friends. “I told him to finish his breakfast and have a good day at school. He is a smart kid, very outgoing and intelligent. He’s ready to go back to school.”
Brian said things were a little behind schedule on Monday because it was the family’s first day back to school. In a rush, he said he didn’t hug Kyle goodbye — something he does every day.
A giant tree falls on a street in Santa Cruz on January 10, 2023 as atmospheric river storms make landfall in California.
Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
The crew had driven on the same road where Kyle was washed away just hours earlier on Sunday afternoon. Brian said he noticed a bit of mud on the road, flanked by creeks, but that’s normal this January when California experiences heavy rains.
Brian said there was no indication the water might have spilled over the road several hours later, and as of Monday morning, no warnings were issued or barricades in place until after Kyle went missing at about 7: 15 am
Cal Fire, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office, the San Luis Obispo County Search and Rescue Force, and the California Highway Patrol searched for Kyle for about four hours Monday morning before shutting down due to a shutdown. worsening condition.
Countless roads were impassable on Monday in Central California, where another woman drowned behind her car was overtaken by flood water not far from where Kyle disappeared.
Authorities used drones, underwater search teams and helicopters to search for Kyle. Brian said he was overwhelmed by the hundreds of people who had taken the time to search for his son, but stressed that they should only do so if it was safe to do so.
Brian said he was disappointed by the misinformation circulating online about the incident and his wife’s actions. He said that Lindsy did all she could to save their son, who was buckling in the car seat before the water flooded the SUV, and that she had repeatedly said she wished for water. swept her away instead of Kyle.
Brian said: ‘She feels it’s unfair to be so close to the edge but she’s a survivor. “It’s just a series of unfortunate events that you don’t expect to happen to anyone.”
