TORONTO -- Police have now recovered the body of a 30-year-old man swept away by rushing water into a pond in Richmond Hill last night.
Officers were called to the area of Major Mackenzie Drive and Frank Endean Road at around 5:30 p.m. for a report of a possible drowning.
When they arrived on scene, police located a 26-year-old Toronto man in a storm drain tunnel that was connected to a nearby pond.
Sgt. Andy Pattenden said the officers who were first on the scene acted quickly to rescue the 26-year-old by throwing him a rope and pulling him to safety.
After the man was rescued, police said he told officers that he had been with a friend in the storm tunnel system when the water levels started to quickly rise due to heavy rain.
The tunnel flooded and the current swept his friend into a nearby pond, the man told police.
"You may not think of mad-rushing water in Richmond Hill but from my understanding, the storm drain itself is about 10 feet high and at the peak of the storm rush it was about nine feet of water running from one pond to the other in the storm drain," Pattenden said on Wednesday morning.
"It was quite a bit of force and that force is what ended up pushing the 30-year-old from one side all the way through the storm drain… to the other side."
Officers, along with members of the marine unit and local firefighters, searched for the man overnight and on Wednesday afternoon, investigators confirmed that the man's body had been found.
The body, police said, was found shortly after 1 p.m. submerged in the middle of the pond.
The coroner has been called to the scene to confirm the identity of the deceased.
Police are asking anyone with additional information about the investigation to contact York Regional Police.
