‘HOPING FOR A MIRACLE’

5-Year-Old Swept Away in Floods Along California’s Central Coast

California first responders halted a multi-hour search last night amid unsafe conditions.

California firefighters and state police halted a mad dash search around midnight on Monday for a 5-year-old child who was swept away during severe flooding, sinking hopes of a full rescue. The boy and his mother, who worked at Lillian Larsen Elementary School in San Miguel, were headed to the school on Monday morning when the car got stuck along the San Marcos Creekbed amid torrential rain around 7:45 a.m. Witnesses were able to pull the mother out of car but, in doing so, lost the child, who fell out of the vehicle and was swept downstream, according to the Cal Fire/San Luis Obispo County Fire Department. Seventeen firefighters, a dive team and a California Highway Patrol helicopter spent hours attempting to locate the child to no avail. “Our staff is heartbroken over this tragedy,” said Lillian Larsen Elementary School Superintendent Karen Grandoli to The Tribune. “I guess we’re still hoping for a miracle but it doesn’t look good."