Two missing after severe thunderstorm in St. Paul, Minnesota

July 27, 2007

At least two storm sewer workers in St. Paul, Minnesota went missing when a severe thunderstorm hit the city on Thursday causing a 150 foot deep storm sewer to flood. At least seven other workers made it out of the sewer.

"Nine went down and seven came out," said the fire chief of St. Paul, Mark Mueller.

The workers were part of Lametti and Sons, a private agency employed to repair the city's storm drains. At approximately 3:00 p.m. (central time), they were ordered to evacuate the drains. The flooding began as the last of the men were climbing to the surface, but when the seventh man turned around, the other two were gone.

A search was conducted, but nothing was found and another search will take place on Friday when authorities will begin to search areas of the Mississippi River.

The names of the men are not known.