Direct from her boyfriend who was there when it happened
"If you look at the other photo, that is the drain we were in. It had less then 6 inches of water. We’ve been here a few times already, and i used to ride my bike in this drain all the time when i was younger. I know friends who’s been in there a bunch recently and never had any issues.
We checked several websites about the weather and there was no rain coming till later that night.
We planned to be in there for an hour, then go to the roots picnic concert, then leave for upstate New York the next morning. We were always planning something new and spontaneous to do.
After about 40 minutes of shooting in the drain, we were literally taking our last few photos as we started hearing water rushing.
From what i was told the water was coming from flash floods 3 hours away in the poconos. It never even rained in Philly till hours later that night. Within 5 minutes it went from 6 inches of water to waist high.
We tried to find a manhole to climb out but another 2 minutes later It was up to our necks and we were floating through the drain in rapid rushing water. It was throwing us around everywhere and we kept screaming each others names back and forth saying were gonna be ok.
We lost grip and the current took her ahead of me. At the end of the drain theres a big metal gate. I kept yelling that we had to grab the gate if possible and not go under it.
Less then a minute later i was sucked under the metal gate with the water and hit my head on the concrete or the gate. I was then unconscious for im not sure how long. I woke up 25 yards up stream stuck between a tree branch choking up water.
I crawled to shore then tried to stand up and collapsed, I couldn’t move. I could just scream out her name but i got no response. The water stripped all my clothes off besides my teeshirt and boxers.
I was freezing and my feet were bleeding all over but i finally got up and continued to try and walk down the stream looking for her. The current took me under again and i almost didn’t make it out a second time.
I knew i had to get to land and call the police. Im so so sorry Becca. I tried everything i could. I didn’t want to go to the hospital, i wanted to continue to look for you all night