Overview
- Two contractors were swept into a storm sewer during intense thunderstorms at a Downers Grove construction site, and one coworker was pulled from the pipe and taken to the hospital in good condition.
- Rescue teams suspended active search efforts because rising stormwater and unsafe air conditions inside the sewer made further entry too dangerous.
- After overnight recovery operations and renewed searching near St. Joseph Creek, crews recovered the missing worker from the storm sewer on Tuesday afternoon.
- Officials said the recovered worker was part of a multi-year pipe rehabilitation project on an 11-foot concrete culvert built in the 1960s and that the DuPage County Coroner will determine cause and manner of death.
- The incident highlights the hazard of working in stormwater infrastructure during heavy runoff, since pipes fed by street runoff can remain dangerous for hours after rain and complicate emergency response.