California woman dies after falling down storm drain in Orange County park

An Orange County woman has died after being discovered in a park storm drain, as police continue to probe her mysterious death. 

Firefighters in Garden Grove, California, responded to a reports of a possible fire in a drainage tunnel and an unconscious person nearby at around 8.30pm Sunday night. 

Arriving at Haster Basin Park, firefighter-paramedics found the woman, who was in her 20s, in cardiac arrest outside of the drain's opening. Although attempting to resuscitate her, the woman was later pronounced dead at the scene. 

It is unknown why the dead woman was in the storm drain, nor how the blaze could have started. 

Firefighters were called to the scene late Sunday evening, and discovered a woman in cardiac arrest outside of the drain opening. After being given emergency resuscitation, she was later pronounced dead

The storm drain is located in Haster Basin park, pictured above, in Orange County's Garden Grove. The park contains multiple storm drains, and it is not known which the woman was found in

Pictured is one of the park's many drains. Storm drain deaths tend to occur primarily during extreme flooding conditions, when people risk being sucked into the strong currents of water. Orange County is not currently experiencing stormy weather, however

An image shared on Twitter by the Orange County Fire Department shows a team of firefighters working in darkness to extend a firetruck ladder over the storm drain. 

Officials say technical rescue teams went into the storm drain to see if any others were down there, but did not find anyone. 

Orange County police are currently investigating the mysterious death. 

Storm-drain deaths tend to occur during heavy rains or flash floods, when people can be sucked into storm drains without grates protecting the opening. 

In June of 2022, a Milwaukee boy and his father died after being sucked into a large drainage culvert during heavy rains.

An 11 year-old Arkansas boy suffered a similarly tragic end after being sucked into a storm drain while playing outside during a massive flood. 

Orange County has not been experiencing flood conditions this weekend, and it is unknown whether the storm drain had a grate or not.