A teenage boy has been found dead Friday after getting caught in a storm drain in a Toronto park during a torrential downpour overnight.
Officials say they received a call just before 1:30 a.m. on Friday that two teens had had been caught in a storm drain at Earl Bales Park on Bathurst Street, south of Sheppard Avenue West in North York, amid an overnight downpour.
The storm began on Thursday evening in the Toronto area. Just before 8 p.m., a severe thunderstorm warning was issued for the region by Environment Canada, forecasting up to 50 mm of rain in some area.
According to investigators, at some point during the storm, the boys removed a manhole cover at the top of the park and would have wandered along a 300 metre sewer tunnel that slopes downhill and eventually opens into a reservoir near the Don Valley Parkway golf course.
While the boys were in the system, the rains caused them to be swept away.
One of the teens, an 18-year-old boy, managed to get to safety after clinging to the side of a rock face where the drain enters the reservoir for approximately 30 minutes. Officials say that he waited until he was able to get his strength back and was then able to climb out and get to a nearby parking lot, where a passerby called 911.
The other teen was found dead hours later, about half a kilometre from where he exited the system, officials said.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Toronto Fire Division Commander Steven Darling said the boys appeared to have entered into the system of their own accord with no malintent. He described the incident as a "misadventure."
“They got caught with the water levels rising and they tried to get out but it was too late,” he said. “The water swept them downstream.”
There were about 40 firefighters at the site searching for the missing boy at one point, as well as 20 to 25 police officers.
Darling said that supports will be made available to all of those personnel should they request it.
“From our first responders point of view I mean we're all parents. Most of us are parents or a good many of us are parents so it does hit home,” he said of the incident.
