Firefighters rescued two men who fell into a manhole during heavy rain in downtown Omaha on Friday, including one who was washed about a mile (1.6km) through sewer pipes before getting trapped behind a metal grate.
The men, who were workers for a private contractor, Ace Pipe Cleaning, were swept into a manhole near the Old Market just after 9am, the Omaha World-Herald quoted Lt Neal Bonacci of the Omaha police department as saying.
One of the men, who was tethered to a safety system, was quickly pulled out. A large-scale rescue effort ensued for the other, who was apparently not tethered. He was found around 10.20am.
The 41-year-old man had extricated himself from the water, but was found behind a metal grate covering a culvert. An Omaha fire department crew cut the grate to free him, Jason Bradley, the assistant fire chief, told the newspaper.
He was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center. His name and condition were not immediately released.
Rescuers thought his clothes could have caught on something in the pipes, Bradley told the World-Herald. It was also possible that he could have been swept all the way into the Missouri River. The fire department staged a boat at the river to watch for him.
Rescuers were paying special attention to the area around 7th and Jones Streets. There’s a wall in the sewer system there that diverts water to the river, Bradley said.
“That’s why we were kind of concentrating our efforts down there, because they were thinking that he would have to have a lot of force to get up over the wall at 7th and Jones before he would get diverted south to Leavenworth and then the river,” Bradley said.
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It appears the man was carried over the wall. It was unclear Friday afternoon how he got out of the water stream and how he was found, but his head was above water when rescuers arrived.
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