After more than two days of looking, search teams still have seen no sign of Nicholas Shaffer, the 12-year-old autistic boy who was swept away Thursday evening in Mud Brook creek in Akron’s Merriman Valley.
Saturday’s search was called off at about 4:45 p.m., but was to resume this morning.
Nicholas, a student at Woodridge Intermediate School, either fell or jumped into the normally placid creek, which had been transformed into a raging torrent by Thursday’s massive rainstorm.
He had been sitting with family and friends near the creek behind Timber Top apartments.
Search teams using motorized rafts and helicopters have been trying to trace his path. They are focusing on a 1,000-foot stretch between two bridges.
But the creek has been moving too fast for dive teams to enter, and the water isn’t expected to calm down enough for at least a couple more days.
Akron District Fire Chief Anthony Law said Saturday that the search would likely continue in the same area for several more days, “at least until the creek is down to its normal speed and height, when we can walk the thing.”
The creek normally is only about one foot deep.
If walking the banks proves fruitless, he said, the search teams likely will move downstream to the Cuyahoga River.