An 8-year-old boy has survived being swept into a flooded drain tunnel in the US, surfacing in a creek about 1.6km away.
Kenny Markiewicz suffered only scrapes and bruises in the freak accident which happened when he was playing with his cousin in Minnesota.
The boy's home town has been hit with record rain and flooding this week and Kenny told ABC News he went over to a "mud puddle, a big one".
"He just was going across by the puddle and, apparently, there was a culvert or a pipe there and he fell in," his mother, Amber, said.
"We heard my niece scream and we opened the door, ran down the hill and dialed 911."
Neighbours helped search for Kenny underground by lifting manholes but the boy had vanished down the drain which was full of rushing water.
Kenny said he thought of his mother during the "dark, scary ride".
"I plugged my nose, I took a breath and I prayed," he said.
Grandfather Gordon Marshall found Kenny after he popped out of the drain in a creek about 1.6km away.
"He was lost, petrified, scared to death," Mr Marshall said.
"The first thing I think I said to him is, "Are you alright? Do you know where you're at?" He didn't. He just screamed."
Mr Marshall called the police and 20 minutes after the boy first disappeared his frantic mother was told he was safe and well.
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