The body of a 7-year-old Canadian girl who was swept out to sea during disastrous flash flooding in California was recovered Sunday — two days after her father died trying to save her.
A diver found the young girl’s body shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday, around 100 yards offshore and a half-mile north of her last known location in the waters at the Garrapata State Beach in Carmel, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office said.
The girl, whose name was not released, was originally believed to be 5 years old. The MCSO said it received more exact confirmation from her family after the initial reports were released.
She was retrieved by volunteer Juan Heredia, a search and recovery diving instructor who runs the nonprofit Angels Recovery Dive Team that assists with “recover[ing] sons or daughters,” according to his Facebook.
“I found the child, she is going back home today, thank you God,” he wrote.
The young girl was dragged out to sea shortly before 1 p.m. Friday, according to the sheriff’s office.
Her father, 39-year-old Yuji Hu of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, bolted into the water alongside his wife to save her.
The sheriff’s office said it was told “that Dad had a hold of his daughter at one point,” but there was no sign of her when Hu was dredged from the water.
Another beachgoer and an off-duty California State Parks lifeguard later pulled Hu from the water and rushed him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the sheriff’s office.
The girl’s mother made it back to shore, where the couple’s 2-year-old child was waiting. She was also hospitalized and treated for hypothermia, the sheriff’s office said Sunday.
“The family has expressed their gratitude to all agencies, personnel, and community members involved in the search and recovery efforts,” the office said.
The search for the missing girl shifted to a recovery mission on Sunday.
California was drenched by an atmospheric river last week, sparking anything from deadly flash floods to catastrophic landslides.
The coast was overwhelmed by up to an inch of rain an hour on Saturday. On Friday, 4 inches were dumped on Santa Barbara County, followed by another 12 inches on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
Overall, Santa Barbara County alone saw nearly half its average annual rainfall of 17 inches just during the weekend storm, according to a report from the National Weather Service.
On Saturday, four people were killed when a wooden boat carrying suspected migrants from Mexico capsized in rough waters near San Diego.
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