Timesfridaybakerstreet

Family battles through the storm

By: Larissa Theodore, Times Staff

07/06/2007

ALIQUIPPA - The heavy thunderstorms that passed through the area Thursday put Linda Mannino's family through a serious ordeal.

When Mannino, of 223 Baker St., realized that her 8-year-old son was missing, she and other family members began frantically looking for the boy in the downpour.

Mannino said as she drove up and down the block looking for her son, her car stalled and was swept up in the current. Water filled the car up to the dashboard, leaving her no choice but to climb out an open window.

Sucking in muddy water, Mannino got swept into the current and was bruised by floating logs. She said she fought for her life as she tumbled through the water down the street. As she worried that her kids would have to witness her drowning, she said some people watched from their porches, laughing. The wails of her 5-year-old daughter made her snap back and fight harder.

A neighbor, Leroy Brown, pulled her out of the tide, she said.

"My life was flashing before my eyes," she said, " ... but it wasn't going to be me. I have three babies."

Meanwhile, as his mother's search proved not only futile, but nearly disastrous, Jason Mannino, who can't swim well, was clinging for dear life in the neighborhood park. He said he might have drowned if it weren't for his uncle Joey Hunter, 31, of Beaver, a Bridgewater volunteer firefighter.

The outgoing, chatty 8-year-old said he and a friend, Harley Falkner, 14, of 140 Baker St., were in the park and had just left the free lunch program at nearby Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church when the floodwaters from nearby Iron Hill Creek began rising fast. Before Jason knew it, he said, he was clinging to a chain link fence at the back of the playground, struggling to keep his grip and stay above water.

"I was scared," Jason said.

The fast-moving rush ripped one of his hands from the fence and left him dangling by one hand. Falkner tried to rescue the youngster and said he heaved Mannino against the fence so the boy could regain his hold. The two made their way up a wooded hillside at the back of the park where the water couldn't reach. Falkner said he didn't have time to be scared.

"I was scared for him, not for myself," Falkner said.

Neighbors showed Hunter where his nephew was, and Hunter found him stuck behind the playground. Jason was afraid to cross the water, he said, so Hunter waded through a strong, knee-high current to get to him.

"I just grabbed my nephew," Hunter said. A brother of Falkner grabbed the older boy, he said.

Family and neighbors, many of whom watched the ordeal from their front stoops, were hailing Hunter as a hero. Mannino said she was thankful, for Hunter - and Brown.

Larissa Theodore can be reached online at ltheodore@timesonline.com.