FRACKVILLE -- A 12-year old girl is in the hospital after heavy flood waters swept her into a drainage pipe.
Fire fighters were called out to Arch Street in Frackville Monday afternoon and were able to pull her to safety half a mile downstream.
The girl was near a creek with two friends, watching as flood waters crested the banks when she fell in and was pulled into a drainage pipe.
“She was standing right there. Her foot was there and her foot was there and she took one more step and fell down,” said friend Brooke Mickalowski. “She fell and we all tried to help her out but she just got washed away.”
The girls began screaming for help and luckily members of the Good Will Hose Company happened to already be there, dealing with the flooding issues.
But the waters were moving fast in the pipe and the girl was gone like a shot underground.
“We immediately reacted, got guys along the stream here,” said Assistant Chief Bill Lindenmuth. “Had guys along the way, called for an immediate water rescue teams.”
Flooding video taken on Arch Street by a member of the Good Will Hose Company showed heavy water on the road moments before the girl fell into the drain.
Belinda Simons is the mother of one of those girls who was with the 12-year old at the time.
“It was horrible. When they said that somebody got swept away I ran and went so fast through town, ran up that hill,” said Simons.
Fire crews eventually pulled her to safety in a wooded area nearly half a mile from where she went in.
Crews said she was taken to Geisinger Medical Center near Danville but was conscious and talking at the time.
Parents and neighbors want this to be warning.
"Kids are always coming here to look and see because it`s an attractive nuisance,” said neighbor John Malinchok.
“Very dangerous, stay away from anything like this,” said Simons.
“Strong moving water, any kind of water, not to play in it because it can turn very serious, very fast,” said Lindenmuth.