Second body found in Ontario wash after storm swept away about 10 people last week
TORONTO — The last victim found in the Toronto area after what police called a devastating storm was a woman who died of asphyxiation after an apparent drownings, officials said Thursday.
At least 10 people were found deceased and another 11 people were treated for injuries in the wake of the Monday morning storm.
The Toronto Paramedic Service said that 10 bodies have been recovered, while police have said 11 deaths and nine injured.
The discovery of the body was confirmed Wednesday night.
The Toronto Star reported that the body found in the Toronto area belonged to a woman who died last week.
The incident was described as an apparent drownings. The Star reported that some of the victims’ body parts were washed away.
Toronto police have said investigators are still working to determine what happened.
A Facebook group on the tragedy had more than 5,600 likes.
“I woke up to the sound of screams screaming and there was some commotion going on up there on my floor. I didn’t think anything of it, I was sleeping with my ear pressed to the floor because I was trying to get someone out. I opened the door up and I was completely inundated,” a woman, who said she lived nearby said.
Another woman, who lives in a different part of Toronto, told the Star that on the morning after the storm, she heard panicked parents calling for their children in the basement. She said she heard one of the children say, “Daddy, Mommy is dead, I saw it with my own eyes.”
The woman who said she was the last person to see the body told the Star there was vomit all over the floor. She said that she walked to the upstairs of her apartment block and saw that the basement had become a mass of blood.
The Star reported that police were now concerned that the death could have been caused by a serial killer.
Police now say it appears that 10 people may have died. They also have said that two people were killed in the storm, although they haven’t released information.
Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders said late Tuesday that investigators are trying to establish how the deaths could have happened and they have made “dramatic” arrests.
He has also said that investigators are trying to determine the cause of death for many of the people who have died.
