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Up until Wednesday afternoon, Yanelia Henry had no idea that little Kyle Richards existed. But after she heard about the tragedy of him being washed away by floodwaters, the August Town, St Andrew, resident said it was impossible for her to be a bystander and watch as the community searched for the Hope Valley Experimental School student.

The Excelsior Community College student put on her boots, rolled up her sleeves and has been swimming through the murky Hope River, and at times hurdling debris in a desperate bid to locate nine-year-old Kyle.

"I was out with the community members from (Wednesday) last night and I came out back at 6 o'clock this morning. I honestly didn't even think about and remember that sections of the community was feuding with each other, I just had to join in," Henry said.

"I couldn't sleep on Wednesday night. This incident is extremely harsh," she said.

Young Kyle was heading home from school with his aunt on Wednesday evening when raging floodwaters swept him into a gully and out of sight.

Scores of persons from the August Town community have joined in a massive effort to find the boy. Like other volunteers, Henry has been braving the weather and evading obstacles as she tries to find the boy. The search team, armed with pickaxes and cutlasses spent much of Thursday cutting and clearing debris in a gully and the Hope River bed, hoping they would stumble upon the boy.

Distressed look

"I have a little son who is seven years old, and when the rain started on Wednesday, I left school to go and pick him up. When I came home I heard what happened and I immediately take off my uniform. I was already in my 'marina' and my shorts so I just start search even before the fire brigade got here," the Jungle 12 resident said.

Also a part of the search team was Kyle's uncle Michael Richards. He wore a distressed look on his face as he scoured through the murky waters under the Harbour View bridge, some five miles downstream from the spot where Kyle was swept away.

"Mi nah stop til mi find mi likkle nephew, enuh. A Havendale mi live and a one time mi ever get to meet the youth, and look what happen now. Right now him father deh overseas and him not taking it well. This rough bad, mi nah tell no lie," Richards said.

Up to press time on Thursday night, scores of residents from the August Town community were still scouring the gully that leads to Hope River in search of Kyle.