southlake

Trapped by Snakes in Storm Drain, 11-Year-Old Southlake Girl Rescued

'I'm just glad I'm still not under there," girl says

NBCUniversal, Inc.

An 11-year-old Southlake girl was rescued from a storm drain after her underground adventure got derailed – by snakes.

It happened at the Stovall family’s home on Wednesday when Tori and her sister Carly, 13, decided to go exploring.

"We just like playing together," Tori said. "If she was going to do it, I thought I might as well do it."

Tori went first, only to become trapped by snakes.

She quickly learned she wasn’t alone in there.

"And she looks up and there's this snake,” Carly said.

A big one.

"I made it to the center,” Tori said. "I thought I could just go out the other tunnel since there are two ways out."

But turns out, there was a problem going the other direction too.

"And I immediately saw another snake,” Tori said.

Snakes, in both directions -- with her, stuck in the middle.

Carly got her mother Nikki who was inside working.

She evaluated the situation -- and called for help.

Firefighters and police arrived quickly and sprung into action.

“How did you get down there?” a firefighter asked.

“I crawled,” Tori answered.

Girl, Trapped by Snakes, Rescued From Southlake Storm Drain

Firefighters lifted the heavy metal grate above her head.

“Give me your hand,” a firefighter told her. “Come here! Come here! Come here!”

They grabbed Tori and lifted her to safety.

"Just needed a few strong heroes and they just flipped that thing right open and yanked her right out,” her mother said.

"I'm just glad I'm still not under there near a snake anymore,” Tori said.

Nikki Stovall said her daughters knew better than to play in the storm drain but aren’t in any trouble.

"I'm not impressed they made the decision to go wander in there but I'm proud of them for problem-solving,” Stovall added.

For the two young sisters, it was the lesson of a lifetime.

'No, I will not go under there again,” Tori said.

Contact Us