On the same creek, during a heavy rain on June 4, 1981, 10-year-old Remiyio Pena fell into the water and was washed into the pipe. By the following afternoon, when he had not been found, authorities began dragging the Brazos River looking for his body.
However, four friends tied themselves together with rope and traveled down the pipe and found Pena alive, clinging to a tire. He was freed 27 hours after falling in.