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The Alabama man is lucky to be alive after being sucked into a drain during a powerful storm on Friday night and wiped out hundreds of feet of underground.
Drew Owen, a resident of Trussville, just outside Birmingham, was trying to get his child’s soccer ball back from rising floods when he was suddenly pulled under the surface.
“It was here,” Owen told NBC affiliate WVTM, pointing to the drain in his garden. “That’s where I think I went there. And I came back. And that was when the pipe sucked me in.”
Owen described the horrifying experience of being rushed into water, stating that he was totally confused and unable to breathe. He estimated that he had been in the water for 30-45 seconds, sweeping pipes carrying more than 500 feet under a large highway and a series of railroad tracks.
“I didn’t have time to breathe because of the air when it happened, because it happened so quickly,” he recalled. “The water was flowing so hard. The whole pipe was just water. I was hoping it would fall at some point soon. I was honestly saying goodbye,” Owen said.
Miraculously, Owen survived only with minor injuries (cuts, scrapes, loss of shoes and shirts), but he and his wife, Casey, say the outcome could have been even worse. Now they are seeking increased safety to prevent others from facing similar fates.
“We hope this will become a safer area to ensure that this doesn’t happen to adults, children, anyone in our area again,” Casey Owen said.
The mayor of Trussville later visited the site. City officials say the drains were originally installed by the state, and some of the affected land is privately owned. The city’s public works department is currently considering options to improve stormwater safety and reduce future flood risks.
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