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A North Carolina 1-year-old was swept away by rushing floodwaters caused by Florence after his mother lost her grip on the child.
Search and rescue teams spent hours looking for Kaiden Lee-Welch overnight on Sunday into Monday after water from the deadly storm flooded the highway his mother was driving on as she headed east to Wadesboro, North Carolina.
“I was holding his hand, trying to hold him, trying to pull him up … I couldn’t hold on anymore, and he let go,” Lee’s mother told FOX 46 WJZY.
The search for Kaiden resumed Monday morning, Union County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
Kaiden’s mother, identified as Dazia Lee by FOX 46 WJZY, told authorities she drove around a barricade on North Carolina Highway 218 toward Wadesboro, when she encountered the swift water rising from Richardson Creek.
The water pushed her car off of the road and and left her stuck in a group of trees, according to police.
Lee was able to get Kaiden out of the car, but the water caused her to lose her grip.
Lee sobbed as she described her son to the local news outlet.
“My son is 1 years old. He’s the sweetest boy you could ever have,” she said.
It was not immediately clear why Lee was traveling on the highway.
“I did everything everything I could from the moment I was pregnant to the moment I lost him. I did everything I could as a parent to save him and protect him,” she said.
Family members joined police in searching for the boy overnight. Police urged residents to avoid Highway 218 due to ongoing flooding.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said on Sunday that flood waters were raging across the state and have created an enormous risk for residents of the state.
With Florence, which has been downgraded to a tropical depression, making its way across the region, flash flood warnings were in effect across much of North Carolina, as well as in northeast South Carolina and southwest Virginia, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm is responsible for at least 17 deaths, with the majority the victims located in North Carolina. Two babies and a mother were killed in separate incidents in Gaston County and Wilmington