Rescuers Search For 2 Workers Missing In Sewer System In St. Paul, Minn., After Storm

Friday, July 27th 2007, 9:30 am

By: News On 6

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) _ Rescuers set out in boats Friday in search of two workers missing after the city's sewers were hit with a surge of water during a severe thunderstorm, authorities said.

The men and several colleagues were working in sewer pipes about 150 feet below ground Thursday afternoon when they were told to evacuate, said Bob Kraft, a spokesman with Lametti and Sons Inc., the Hugo-based contractor doing the work.

Kraft said the group's foreman and four workers went to an exit point about 1,400 feet away from where they were working. With water from the storm waist-high, the men began climbing the exit stairwell, he said.

Kraft said the supervisor realized when the group reached the surface that two of the men were missing and he and the others went back into the tunnel, where the water was rapidly receding.

He said the men searched all the way to where the sewer enters the Mississippi River but were not able to locate the missing men.

``We don't know how it came up so fast,'' Kraft said of the rush of water. The company has never experienced such an accident, he said.

Firefighters searched into the night Thursday and started searching again at dawn Friday, said Mark Mueller, deputy fire chief of the St. Paul Fire Department.

Officials were worried the missing workers had been swept into the river. According to the National Weather Service, about .44 inches of rain fell in St. Paul in about 30 minutes.

``The storm came up pretty fast, and these guys are pretty far down,'' Mueller said.

In neighboring Minneapolis, 16 children and adults were pitched into the water when five sailboats capsized on two city lakes. Authorities said the boaters got to shore safely.

High winds and hail damaged crops, trees, homes and vehicles in the Twin Cities area, authorities said.

In Texas on Thursday, flooding prompted Gov. Rick Perry's office to place response teams on alert in some parts of the state and heavy rain was expected in Texas through the weekend.

The forecast storm line stretches from Laredo north to the Dallas area and Perry said the state would provide assistance to those areas as local officials indicate they need help.