California woman rescued after being trapped in a storm drain

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - A California woman is recovering after apparently being trapped for days in a storm drain.

After an hours-long effort, first responders pulled the woman from the canyon storm drain in Poway Monday. Investigators say the 59-year-old woman was reported missing on April 3.

San Diego detectives searching the area say they heard a woman's voice coming from the storm drain Monday morning. That's when rescue crews got involved.

They say the effort to get her out of the drain was complicated by the cramped conditions of the drain tunnels.

"They were crawling around in multiple directions trying to locate this woman. When they got to essentially the limited distance they were to be crawling around and it started narrowing down they had to back out. At that point we had to start thinking about alternate plans alternate ways to locate this victim."

Erik Windsor, Battalion Chief, San Diego Fire Rescue

Investigators say it's still unclear how the woman wound up in the storm drain, but they say she could have been underground for as long as a week

She is currently in serious condition at an area hospital.