FOX Weather meteorologist Bob Van Dillen is being hailed as a hero after his courageous rescue of a woman trapped in rising floodwaters during a live broadcast near Atlanta on Friday. As Hurricane Helene’s torrential rains flooded roads and communities across the Southeast, Van Dillen found himself facing a critical moment.
During a live segment, Van Dillen explained to “Fox & Friends” why he couldn’t sit idly by while the woman’s life hung in the balance. The storm had already overwhelmed first responders with calls for high-water rescues, and the woman had been waiting for help for at least ten minutes. “You could hear screaming,” Van Dillen recounted, describing the distressing sounds that filtered through the broadcast. In the background, the woman’s car was nearly submerged, a grim reminder of how quickly the floodwaters were rising.
In the clip below, you’ll watch Dillen doing a live report and hear the woman screaming in the background.
.@BobVanDillen Fox News Weather Meteorologist, stops his live weather report to rescue a woman screaming for help after her car got swamped by a flash flood. #Hero #Helene #Atlanta pic.twitter.com/eeh2EBIE6Q
— Eddie (@Eddies_X) September 27, 2024
Faced with the urgent situation, Van Dillen made the split-second decision to act, despite being live on air. “I realize I’m with you guys on the air, but I can’t let it go,” he said, before heading into the floodwaters. Without hesitation, he took off his wallet, waded chest-deep into the water, and approached the trapped car. His concern was clear as he assessed the risks: the swift current, the water temperature, and the potential danger of entering the flood. But none of that deterred him. “The current really wasn’t that bad,” Van Dillen explained, although he was mindful of the water temperature, which hovered around 80 degrees.
As he reached the car, he found the woman nearly neck-deep in water, still strapped into her seat. Van Dillen guided her through the steps to free herself. “I told her, ‘Undo your seatbelt,’ she undid her seatbelt. I said, ‘Let me have your phone, let me have your bags,’ then put [her] on my back, and we walked in,” Van Dillen explained, recounting the tense moments of the rescue.
The woman was in shock, cold, and shivering as she was pulled to safety. Van Dillen, gave her one of his shirts to help her warm up while they waited for first responders. About 10 minutes later, the fire department arrived. The woman’s husband picked her up shortly after, and Van Dillen returned to his duties, brushing off the incident as a “good deed for the day.”
WATCH – Fox Weather reporter stops a live report to rescue a woman trapped by flooding during Hurricane Helene
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) September 27, 2024
Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida late Thursday night, and though its winds have since weakened, the storm’s devastating rainfall continues to wreak havoc across the Southeast. Flash flooding remains the greatest threat, with rivers and streams bursting their banks, trapping residents and causing widespread chaos. As the storm pushed inland, it left a trail of destruction from Florida to the mid-Atlantic.
