Boy Sucked into Sewer by Flash Flood, Comes Out a Manhole

A boy who prayed to Jesus when the rains took him away was delivered from a sewer hole in a dramatic rescue.

Jeffrey LaPorta was riding his bike last week in a suburb of Cleveland when he fell into a raging creek swollen from massive rainfall, reports the Detroit Free Press.

The 14-year-old was swept off, sucked into a 2-foot-wide storm drain, and carried a quarter-mile into the sewer — under a parking lot and beneath four lanes of traffic.

For much of the ride Jeffrey was completely underwater, and it’s a miracle he survived.

His buddy Miguel Torres didn’t know what happened but saw Jeffrey’s bike in the water. He got help and, after uncovering six manholes, firefighters finally found Jeffrey — alive and well.

“It was scary. I didn’t know what to do,” Jeffrey told WFMY. “I couldn’t even see and it was moving so fast. I started praying to Jesus to help me and good-bye to mom and dad because I thought I was going to die. … It was scary. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to panic because if I panicked I would have probably died. I am very lucky to be alive.”