Police find body near Baie-Saint-Paul, Que., 2 days after firefighters go missing | CBC News

A body has been found near Baie-Saint-Paul, Que., two days after a pair of firefighters were swept away by rushing floodwaters. 

The firefighters, Christopher Lavoie, 23, and Régis Lavoie, 55, who are not related, were helping residents in Saint-Urbain, north of Baie-Saint-Paul, on Monday when they went missing. 

The body was found Wednesday morning between Saint-Urbain and Baie-Saint-Paul. The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) said the body appears to be one of the two firefighters, but added it’s too early to confirm the identity.

Marylou Lavoie, Régis’s daughter, told Radio-Canada on Tuesday that her father was in an amphibious ATV with Christopher Lavoie when the strength of the current capsized their vehicle.

“My dad tried to hold on to a tree, but it didn’t work,” she said, relaying information she heard from police. “The [ATV] hit him and the current took him.”

A helicopter was dispatched to the scene to carry out search-and-rescue operations. The Canadian Armed Forces also deployed a Griffon helicopter and a Lockheed C-130 Hercules plane to monitor the floods and assist in the search.

Baie-Saint-Paul is on the north shore of the Saint-Lawrence River, about an hour drive northeast of Quebec City. 

The region has been hit hard by flooding sparked by torrential rains that caused river levels to rapidly rise on Monday. The floodwaters swept away motorhomes, damaged houses and destroyed roads.