Authorities in Kansas resumed the search for the body of an 11-year-old boy who was swept away by a fast-moving creek in Wichita on Friday night, hours after flash flooding moved through the area.
The boy, whose name has not been released, fell into an unnamed creek that feeds into the Arkansas River at about 7:30 p.m.
Wichita Fire Department Battalion Chief John Turner said that Friday's storm may have doubled the depth of the creek to approximately 10 feet.
Officials spent three hours searching four miles of the creek Friday night but weren't able to find the boy, Turner said.
"We were hoping he was holding onto a limb or tree or something on the bank," Turner said.
The search is continuing today, but is now in recovery mode as officials look for his body.
"At this point our law enforcement has searched all the areas he could be known to be, and nothing has turned up, so we're focusing efforts on the creek," Turner said.
"It's difficult for us," he said. "You can imagine how it is on the family. That's our main focus now, is finding some closure for the family as quickly as we possibly can."
Turner said water speed can be "very deceiving, especially during flash floods." The creek was likely moving between five and eight miles per hour, which is fast enough to "knock a person down," he said.
Turner said that today "the water is continuing to slow down and rescind, which makes the efforts a little bit easier."
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