Reporter Stops Mid-Broadcast To Rescue Woman Trapped In Her Flooded Car During Hurricane Helene
The water was up to his chest as he carried the terrified woman to safety.
EHstockphoto | Shutterstock With Hurricane Helene currently battering the East Coast, residents are being advised to stay off the roads and to seek shelter indoors. However, for some, this means braving treacherous conditions to reach safety when their homes are at risk of being swept away.
One news reporter covering the destruction of Helene happened to be at the right place at the right time when a woman driving became trapped on the flooded roads. As he was reporting, he could not ignore the woman’s cries for help and jumped into chest-deep waters to save her.
A Fox News weatherman sprang into action to help a woman trapped in her car as Hurricane Helene swept through Georgia.
While Bob Van Dillen was delivering a crucial live weather update on Hurricane Helene in Atlanta, a woman drove her car straight into the flood waters caused by the storm and was stranded in her car.
Van Dillen told the studio that he had already called 911 and was waiting for emergency services to rescue the woman. “We got you! 911, they’re coming! You’re good!” he called out to the woman, who could be heard screaming in horror.
Despite Van Dillen’s reassurance, the woman was still in extreme distress, and the reporter took it upon himself to help her. “We will get back to you in a little bit. I’m gonna go see if I can help this lady out a little bit more,” he told viewers before jumping into the flood waters and carrying the woman on his back to safety.
Once emergency services arrived and he was back on air, the reporter recalled the harrowing scene.
Van Dillen said that when he reached the woman, she was “panicking” and “wasn't really making too much sense.”
“She still had the seat buckle on. And she had her window about this much down, and she's trying to talk to me through that,” Van Dillen shared.
The water pressure against the car door made it difficult for the weatherman to open, and the current was an obstacle in itself. “[The water was] up to my chest, and there's a little bit of a current, but she was a short lady too; she was probably about five feet,” he recalled.
Van Dillen was able to wade through the chest-deep water with the woman on his back shortly before emergency services arrived.
Zinaida Shevchuk | Shutterstock
“I think the panic factor was setting in. And when you start to panic, and you're in the water, and it starts getting cold, you can really, things could really go downhill quickly. So, I just — I couldn't wait,” he said.
Van Dillen is being hailed as a hero by his fellow Fox News colleagues for his daring rescue.
As of right now, the category 4 hurricane has claimed the lives of 22 people in the Southeast.
Hundreds of water rescues have been made as flood alerts urge residents of the Carolinas and Atlanta area to seek higher ground.
Meanwhile, over 4.5 million utility customers are without power from Florida to Virginia.
According to the National Hurricane Data Center, Helene was the 14th most powerful hurricane to sweep the United States and the 7th most powerful to strike Florida.
As some people wake up to find their neighborhoods, properties, and even their livelihoods in shambles, we could all take a page from Van Dillen’s playbook and lend a helping hand.
Rather than leave our fellow survivors in the destruction to fend for themselves, we should jump into action to help one another, offer a shoulder to lean on and work together to rebuild our communities.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.