The search for a missing three-year-old boy continued this week along the Grand River and Belwood Lake.
Kaden Young of Waldemar went missing in the early hours of Feb. 21 after a van driven by his mother was swept into the Grand River near Waldemar in Amaranth Township, west of Orangeville.
Dufferin County OPP officials announced on Feb. 26 police were scaling back the search, which included a search and rescue team, dive unit, helicopter, canine unit and drone.
“With mild weather remaining in the long range forecast, the OPP will be continually reassessing the conditions along the 13-kilometre stretch from Waldemar to Belwood Lake that has been the focus of the search since the flood waters began to subside,” states a press release.
“The OPP remain committed to finding this young child and the formal search may reconvene at any time should anything be located that … requires additional searching.”
On Feb. 27, firefighters with Centre Wellington Fire and Rescue were back in Belwood Lake and the Grand River searching for the boy.
They were aided by Saugeen Shores firefighters, an underwater remotely operated vehicle and camera, and an excavator that worked at moving ice floes.
A significant amount of rainfall between Feb. 19 and 22 caused closed roads and flooding along the Grand River.
Cst. Paul Nancekivell of Dufferin OPP explained that in the early hours of Feb. 21 the boy was “swept away” from the grip of his mother, who was taken to hospital and later released.
Centre Wellington Fire and Rescue was called to assist the Grand Valley Fire Department around 1:25am for a water rescue after a vehicle drove past a road block and into the fast-moving flood waters on 10th Line in Amaranth.
Centre Wellington Fire Chief Brad Patton said crews from Fergus and Elora stations were called to provide water rescue near the bridge at Dufferin County Road 109 and Trafalgar Road.
“When we got there on the bridge on 109 and Trafalgar Road, the chief from Grand Valley said that a woman had driven a van into the river, that the woman has been extricated and that they were looking for the child,” he said.
The van was about 95 per cent submerged, said Patton.
“We were unable to locate anything there,” he said.
“We searched the banks in the area where the women was found and unfortunately we weren’t able to find anything there.”
Patton said it was tough for his firefighters and “very, very tough” for the family.
The rescue was “very difficult,” he said, adding firefighters were dealing with darkness, fog, cold and fast moving waters as well as large ice chunks.
“It’s very exhausting for the firefighters, because you’re constantly fighting the current when you’re in the water in your rescue suits or trying to paddle,” he said.
On Feb. 22 Nancekivell announced the police operation was a “recovery” effort.
Police and volunteers are focusing on searching for Young in the 13km stretch from Waldemar to Belwood Lake.
The water level has receded, but conditions are still difficult.
“We have ice jams that have formed and they’re unstable and still floating, so we can’t search underneath them, it’s not safe to send anybody out there,” said Nancekivell.
“We’ve got ice that propelled up into the trees and we have the shoreline just before there where the ice has torn the shoreline and pushed it back up on itself.”
He asked volunteers to refrain from using personal drones in the search as it is interfering with the OPP drone.
Family and friends have organized search parties from their home in Waldemar and those interested in helping can visit the “Bring Kaden Home” Facebook page.
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