Boy search now recovery operation
Kaden Young, 3, swept away by Grand River
Rescue workers continue to search for a toddler swept out of his mother’s arms and into the surging floodwaters of the Grand River.
Kaden Young, 3, has been missing since early Wednesday morning, when his mother’s car was overcome by the swollen river on a washed out road near Orangeville.
The effort is now a recovery operation to bring closure to Young’s family — not a search and rescue, said OPP Const. Paul Nancekivell.
“Very slim chance the young lad could survive this long in the cold water,” Nancekivell added, speaking to CP24 Thursday.
Given the boy’s weight and the strength of the current, Young’s remains may be as far as 15 km downstream from where he went underwater, Nancekivell told CP24. Searchers will be checking bends in the river and trees along its banks.
Should the toddler reach the Shand Dam by Belwood Lake, a roughly 22- minute drive from Grand Valley, a grate in the water should stop him from going further, Nancekivell said.
Michelle Hanson was driving with Kaden at about 1 a. m. Wednesday when she missed a road closure sign — her family said conditions were dark and foggy — and the minivan was engulfed by rising water.
Cradling her son, Hanson managed to escape the van, but “the child slipped from her arms and ended up in the river,” Nancekivell told reporters at the scene. “The van was swept away moments later.”
Firefighters found Hanson, hypothermic, at a watery alcove on the river’s bank. She was rushed to hospital and has since been released.
Centre Wellington Fire Department personnel were brought in and eventually found the minivan upstream, where they secured it — they couldn’t remove it entirely, given the risks from thick fog and the raging river with fastmoving ice. There was no sign of Kaden inside.
The flooding along the Grand River, which led to a state of emergency in Brantford was caused by heavy rainfall, a February thaw and melting snow. About 4,900 people living near the water were put under an evacuation order after the unseasonable conditions dislodged an ice jam, sending a surge of water towards the city.
Family members said Hanson hadn’t seen the road- closure sign due to dark and foggy conditions. It was about 1 a. m. when the vehicle hit the water.
“When that river swells like this, it gets awfully angry,” said one resident who later Wednesday watched the undulating, turbulent water from the Station St. bridge. “That’s a cold swill down there.”
A recreational angler, Nancekivell said he regularly fishes the stretch of the Grand River they were searching. Normally, he said, the water is about three or four feet deep and easily manageable wearing hip- waders. On Wednesday, the water was about three to four metres deep.
The unexpected surges prompted a different kind of crisis nearly 100 kilometres away in Brantford, where officials declared a state of emergency due to the flooding.
About 4,900 people in roughly 2,200 homes by the river were put under an evacuation order after the unseasonable conditions dislodged an ice jam near the city.
Brantford Mayor Chris Friel urged residents to steer clear of the river and surrounding areas for the foreseeable future.
“It is never worth your personal safety for a view of the river ... stay away from the river,” he said. “That is not just for today or this afternoon or this evening. That will be for the next couple days at least.” — with files from Alexandra Jones and James Matthews of the Hamilton Spectator and The Canadian Press