HOUSTON – A mother of three said she survived hours of being trapped in a sewer drainage pipe after she was sucked into it by floodwaters during Hurricane Harvey.
Kesha Williams, 23, said she and a group of people went to the corner store on Aug. 27 when the rain lightened up. After leaving the store, Williams said she and the group went to check on a vehicle belonging to one of them, and had to cross a ditch full of water.
Little did Williams know that an open sewer drain was in the ditch she tried crossing.
She said within seconds the suction of the water pulled her feet into the hole on Bennington Street, near US 59. Williams said she was holding onto the wall of the sewer for dear life, and her friend tried to grab her, but the water pressure was too powerful.
“I got really tired and couldn’t hold on any longer,” Williams said. “I finally just let go.”
She said she knew how to swim, but the pressure of the water was too strong and carried her through three different sewer lines.
“I was in the dark and I felt rats trying to bite me and roaches all around me,” Williams said.
She said there was complete darkness for hours and she got very tired of fighting the water. All she could think about was her three children.
“I never prayed so much in my life. I asked God to look over my kids if I die here,” Williams told KPRC2.
She said the water was rising and lowering while she was pressed against a wall. After hours, Williams said, she was able to see daylight through a small hole and tried to lift a sewer drain cap. She said she felt around to maneuver the cap to be able to lift it.
“I had to be smart. I had to be smart for my kids so I pushed all around me,” she said.
Williams said she was finally able to climb up three stairs and push the sewer cap off. Williams said she cried when she felt the wind against her face and was able to breathe in fresh air.
When she finally made it back to street level, she was on the feeder road of the Eastex Freeway.
Williams said she was half naked because the water pressure had ripped her pants off. She said she was trying to get help at a motel, but they kicked her out because she was bloody and bruised wasn't wearing clothes.
Williams said she had to walk home because every business around her was closed.
She said she was trapped in the sewer drain from 11 a.m. Sunday and got home around 6 a.m. Monday.
Williams’ family and friends were surprised to see her, since many of them been told she drowned, she said.
The letters RIP were posted on her Facebook page and people were grieving until they found out she was alive.
Williams said family and friends tried calling an ambulance but it was hard to reach anyone on 911. She said her co-worker and manager drove her to Memorial Hermann Hospital on 1960.
Williams, who was bruised and in pain, said she received a tetanus shot, antibiotics and pain medication at the hospital, which was crowded.
Williams told KPRC2 that she was so blessed to be alive for her children and to be there to celebrate her 3-year-old daughter's birthday on Sept. 2.
