A kitten stuck in a storm drain for two weeks was freed last week in Antioch, California, and residents are calling her a "Christmas miracle."

"Stormy" became stuck in a 15-foot-deep storm drain, and survived two heavy rainstorms that pounded the area. Now she is safe and warm in a foster home.

Neighbours heard the kitten crying from the drain, but were unable to rescue her. On Thursday, an East Contra Costa County animal welfare organisation – Homeless Animals Response Program (H.A.R.P.) – devised a plan to save the animal.

Volunteers soaked a towel in tuna, and the enticing aroma led Stormy into a trap. Now, H.A.R.P. foster dad Ray Zeeb is caring for her, and the nonprofit will wait 30 days to see if anyone claims her. If not, she will be put up for adoption.

"It was a Christmas miracle," Antioch resident Arlen Dumin told the Contra Costa Times of the rescue. "You should have seen it. It was amazing."

H.A.R.P. credited the Antioch Police Department, concerned residents, and two anonymous good Samaritans with helping save the animal.

"This was not a H.A.R.P. rescue," Zeeb said. "This was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Everybody was just so concerned – it was unbelievable."

Another kitten with a strong will to survive was a Savannah, Georgia 10-week-old, nicknamed Nemo. Someone threw the tiny animal off the Diamond Causeway bridge and into the Intracoastal Waterway this summer, but Nemo survived and swam to shore. Amazingly, the kitten suffered no broken bones or serious injuries.

Construction workers witnessed the kitten's fall, and alerted authorities. When Nemo got stuck in the mud on shore, the Savannah-Chatham Marine Patrol needed the workers' help to spot him.

"The cat is gray, the mud on the bank is gray," Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police spokesman Julian Miller. "Had they not pointed it out to the Marine Patrol, nobody would have seen him."