SAN ANTONIO – A woman who was swept into an underground drainage ditch by rushing water was rescued at Woodlawn Lake Sunday night, San Antonio firefighters said.
According to firefighters, the force of the water pushed the woman into an underground drainage ditch at Babcock Road and Laddie Place, which empties at Woodlawn Lake, approximately 1 mile south of the ditch.
San Antonio Police Sgt. Ethan Humble said when he heard where the woman was seen falling into the creek, he immediately dispatched officers to Woodlawn Lake, which, according to Humble, is the first place firefighters would have been able to rescue her.
As authorities pulled up to the lake, the woman came out of the culvert "almost simultaneously," police said.
Humble said the water moves fast and the drains weren't fully flooded, so the woman was able to breathe and get through the drainage system quickly and safely.Â
Humble said the woman was lucky someone saw her fall into the ditch so they could rescue her.
The woman was taken to University Hospital and is expected to be OK, firefighters said.
It's unclear how the woman was swept up by the rushing rainwater. Humble said she was probably in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Paolo Cristadoro, a man who has lived in the area for approximately 20 years, said in the time he's lived there, he's heard of at least four people getting swept into the drainage system.