Bob Van Dillen, a Fox Weather Meteorologist, rescued a woman Friday stuck in a car from the floodwaters caused by Hurricane Helene.
Van Dillen was covering the effects of the storm on the streets of Atlanta, Georgia, when he heard a woman cry for help and waded into the deep waters to help her, Fox Weather reported.
“I just put the microphone down and called 9-1-1,” Van Dillen recalled.
“I know that those guys are swamped, so we waited about five minutes. She was getting panicked a little bit more because the water was coming up a little bit higher,” he said. Van Dillen, a 6-foot 1-inch man, managed to navigate the strong currents to reach the woman and pull her to safety.
The rescue was captured on live television. The footage shows Van Dillen wading deep floodwaters with the woman grasping on to him. The meteorologist was moving toward dry land.
Watch:
“Look, reunited,” Van Dillen said, pointing toward the woman and her husband briefly embracing on air. The husband thanked and embraced Van Dillen for rescuing his wife. Van Dillen told the news anchors that during the rescue the floodwater reached up to his chest. The weatherman then continued to report about the flood.
“The water is like 80 degrees. It’s not cold, but I’m freezing right now,” Van Dillen said.
“She was sitting in there by herself, strapped into her car. So I know she was cold,” he added. Van Dillen insisted that anyone in his position would have done what he did.
Helene was upgraded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to hurricane status Wednesday. NOAA experts said that Helene had the potential to become a category three or four hurricane as it made landfall in Florida. Atlanta officials closed public schools Thursday and Friday due to the expected extreme weather from the hurricane.
Why was she in her car in deep water in the first place. If it was the heroic news man from FOX it would have been first responders; all of whom are put in harms way cause this woman had to go somewhere? BS people don’t listen when they say stay out of flood waters. Where was her husband that he was not in the car with her?
Good job Bob!