Man Catapulted Through Sewers in Hellish Hour and a Half Ordeal
Man Catapulted Through Sewers in Hellish Hour-and-a-Half Ordeal.
A The two were working for Ace Pipe Cleaning, a company working for the City of Omaha on a sewer-cleaning contract. It was unclear Friday how they were swept into the pipe. One of the men was tethered to a safety system, and firefighters helped quickly pull him out.
man who fell into Omaha’s sewer system was swept on a nightmarish journey beneath downtown city streets for 1½ miles over 1½ hours Friday before somehow extricating himself from the rushing water just before it dumped into the Missouri River.
Firefighters rescued the 41-year-old sewer pipe cleaning worker after a city sewer maintenance worker heard him yelling for help from a culvert beneath a metal grate. He was conscious, fire officials said, and was rushed to the Nebraska Medical Center by ambulance with unspecified injuries.
“It’s amazing with what that person went through that he survived,” said Jim Theiler, assistant City Public Works director.
The man, whose name was not released Friday, was one of two workers who were swept during a rainstorm into a manhole near 19th and Howard Streets at about 8:50 a.m. Friday.
The two were working for Ace Pipe Cleaning, a company working for the City of Omaha on a sewer-cleaning contract. It was unclear Friday how they were swept into the pipe. One of the men was tethered to a safety system, and firefighters helped quickly pull him out.
The other man, who fire officials were told was not tethered, was swept into city sewers carrying rushing water from Friday’s heavy rain, touching off a dramatic search and rescue effort by city fire and street maintenance crews and the contractor.
The man was finally located at about 10:20 a.m. Friday in a culvert near Fourth and Jones Streets, close to a city pumping station and the Missouri River.
The man had gotten himself out of the flowing water, but was trapped behind a metal grate covering the culvert, fire officials said. Rescuers cut the grate and got the man free, said Assistant Chief Jason Bradley of the Omaha Fire Department, which led the search and rescue effort.
That ended a race by firefighters, sewer maintenance workers, police and Ace Pipe Cleaning workers to find and save the man before he drowned or was jettisoned into the river.
“We deployed several resources to search the sewer system,” Bradley said. “We weren’t sure where he was or how far he would go down the sewer system.”
The pipe he fell into carries water east to either a treatment plant or the Missouri River. City sewer division staff provided rescue crews with maps that showed where the man was likely to be carried through pipes if he continued to be rushed downstream, and where he might get hung up.
Firefighters and Public Works workers hustled systematically block by block through streets above the pipes where the man was expected to be. They popped manholes open along the way to see if they could spot or hear the man.
Rescuers t
A The two were working for Ace Pipe Cleaning, a company working for the City of Omaha on a sewer-cleaning contract. It was unclear Friday how they were swept into the pipe. One of the men was tethered to a safety system, and firefighters helped quickly pull him out.
man who fell into Omaha’s sewer system was swept on a nightmarish journey beneath downtown city streets for 1½ miles over 1½ hours Friday before somehow extricating himself from the rushing water just before it dumped into the Missouri River.
Firefighters rescued the 41-year-old sewer pipe cleaning worker after a city sewer maintenance worker heard him yelling for help from a culvert beneath a metal grate. He was conscious, fire officials said, and was rushed to the Nebraska Medical Center by ambulance with unspecified injuries.
“It’s amazing with what that person went through that he survived,” said Jim Theiler, assistant City Public Works director.
The man, whose name was not released Friday, was one of two workers who were swept during a rainstorm into a manhole near 19th and Howard Streets at about 8:50 a.m. Friday.
The two were working for Ace Pipe Cleaning, a company working for the City of Omaha on a sewer-cleaning contract. It was unclear Friday how they were swept into the pipe. One of the men was tethered to a safety system, and firefighters helped quickly pull him out.
The other man, who fire officials were told was not tethered, was swept into city sewers carrying rushing water from Friday’s heavy rain, touching off a dramatic search and rescue effort by city fire and street maintenance crews and the contractor.
The man was finally located at about 10:20 a.m. Friday in a culvert near Fourth and Jones Streets, close to a city pumping station and the Missouri River.
The man had gotten himself out of the flowing water, but was trapped behind a metal grate covering the culvert, fire officials said. Rescuers cut the grate and got the man free, said Assistant Chief Jason Bradley of the Omaha Fire Department, which led the search and rescue effort.
That ended a race by firefighters, sewer maintenance workers, police and Ace Pipe Cleaning workers to find and save the man before he drowned or was jettisoned into the river.
“We deployed several resources to search the sewer system,” Bradley said. “We weren’t sure where he was or how far he would go down the sewer system.”
The pipe he fell into carries water east to either a treatment plant or the Missouri River. City sewer division staff provided rescue crews with maps that showed where the man was likely to be carried through pipes if he continued to be rushed downstream, and where he might get hung up.
Firefighters and Public Works workers hustled systematically block by block through streets above the pipes where the man was expected to be. They popped manholes open along the way to see if they could spot or hear the man.
Rescuers t