An Auburndale family is hailing two city workers as heroes for saving their cat from a storm drain while facing some unusual challenges.

  • Castle the cat reportedly 60 to 80 feet up in the pipe from the drain
  • City workers used PVC pipe and a water hose to encourage the cat to come out

Emanuel Silva and Joel Rivera are the self-proclaimed "MacGyvers" of the City of Auburndale. Their latest feat Wednesday included battling the blistering heat and dodging a curious alligator, all to save Castle the cat from a storm drain.

“The cat was probably 80, maybe 60 feet up in the pipe,” Silva said.

Silva and Rivera says they tried everything. They dug a hole and cut through the pipe to try and free the cat, but it didn’t work.

So they did what they always do: they improvised.

“Through lunch we kind of we sat through it and said we had to come up with something quick, because the hours were going quick and it was a pretty hot day," said Silva. "So we ended up going and putting some PVC-pipes together and just said hopefully it works.”

It was a master plan Das Borah and his wife say they’re forever thankful for.

“We managed to add 60, almost 80 feet of pipe all the way down that pipe so that’s a pretty good ways into the yard and we attached the flashlight and at the end of the PVC we attached the water hose," said Silva. "So once you turn the water hose on, it makes a water barrier behind the cat. So the cat started coming towards us because he had no where to go. He didn’t want to get wet.”

The couple says they called every other agency in town and were told there was nothing they could do.

“I think the city responded as well as they did because they heard the desperation in my voice," said Borah. "In the grand scheme of things, a cat in a pipe is really not a big deal until it becomes your cat, and then it was a big deal. And we were really desperate -- we didn’t know what to do. We just didn’t want the cat to die in our backyard.”

Thanks to Rivera and Silva's ingenuity, Castle is resting comfortably. He's also afraid to come from under the bed after being in a drain for 40 hours.

As for the trouble shooting duo, they’re just waiting on their next problem-solving adventure.