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12-Year-Old Girl Dies After Being Sucked Into Storm Drain

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Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
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A 12-year-old Missouri girl died early Saturday morning after she was swept into a flood drain as her family tried to avoid a flooded road, according to local reports.

Aaleya Carter was traveling in a car with her mother, brother and sister around 1:30 a.m., as they tried to drive to I-70 to avoid a flooded road, according to Fox 2. As the vehicle tried to go up a ramp, it was swept off the road and into a storm drain opening.

“She was out this morning with her mom and brother, and sister enjoying her birthday,” Aaleyas’s grandmother, Tanya Carter, told Fox 2. “They had just left the movies and water picked up the car and pushed it to the side to where it was hard for them to get out, and she didn’t know there was a drain up under the drain, and she went up under the drain.” (RELATED: 2 Cousins Ages 12 And 13 Drown At Lake While Skipping Rocks)

Carter was swept into the drain while the other vehicle occupants managed to survive, according to the report.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Cpl. Juston Wheetley recounted that witnesses said the water was at least two feet high on the interstate and several vehicles had become immobile due to the water.

“This vehicle attempted to go in the water and attempted a u-turn and go back up Airflight road to avoid the flooded roadway. As they turned in the water, the current swept the vehicle off the roadway and into that concrete drain opening,” Wheetley reportedly said.

Carter was “fatally injured” from being swept in the drain, Wheetley reportedly said. Her body was found several hours later where the storm drain lets out, according to KMOV 4.

Carter’s mother, Bridgette, said she was “lost,” according to KMOV 4.

“I don’t even know. I’m lost. I don’t know what to say.”

A 13-year-old boy in Illinois underwent a very similar experience Saturday and survived, according to local reports.