FOX Weather meteorologist Bob Van Dillen interrupted his live coverage of Hurricane Helene in Atlanta on Friday to rescue a woman trapped in her car by rising floodwaters. In the video, Van Dillen can be seen standing in the rain with the submerged vehicle behind him, describing how the woman drove into the flooded area. The woman’s screams can be heard as Van Dillen assures her that help is on the way.
“It’s a situation.We’ll get back to you in a little bit. I’m going to see if I can help this lady out a little bit more you guys,” Van Dillen says to the camera before wading through the water with the woman on his back, carrying her to safety.
In a later interview for “Fox & Friends”, Van Dillen explained that he couldn’t wait for first responders to arrive when he saw the woman in danger. “I know that we’re swamped here with all of the 911 calls, because there are so many high-water rescues that we’ve already documented so far… [she] called 911 and, five minutes, 10 minutes, and you could hear screaming, right? You could hear through my live shot, real loud,” he said.
Van Dillen described the rescue, saying, “I took my wallet out of my pants, and I went in there, waded in, got chest deep.” He added that the water temperature was around 80 degrees, and the current wasn’t too strong. The woman was still strapped into her car, with the water rising and almost reaching her neck. Van Dillen instructed her to undo her seatbelt and give him her phone and bags before carrying her to safety.
When asked what would have happened if he hadn’t intervened, Van Dillen humbly replied, “You know, I don’t know.” He mentioned that the woman was in shock, cold, and shivering, so he gave her one of his shirts to warm up. About 20 minutes later, the fire department arrived, checked on them, and moved on to the next rescue.
Hurricane Helene left a devastating path of destruction across Florida and the southeastern US on Friday, claiming at least 44 lives and causing extensive damage to homes and infrastructure. The category 4 hurricane knocked out power to some hospitals in southern Georgia and forced authorities to use chainsaws to clear debris and open roads. Moody’s Analytics estimates the property damage to be between $15 billion and $26 billion.