A group of good Samaritans rescued an elderly man Wednesday from his vehicle during a hellish storm surge in Florida.
The daring rescue by the Collier County Cowboys took place in Bonita Springs, footage of which went viral on social media following the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian on Wednesday. The video shows the group of men wading through waist-high storm waters to pull an elderly man from his vehicle before he was swept away or drowned.
Good Samaritans rescue an elderly man stranded in his car in Bonita Springs, Florida, during surging floods from Hurricane Ian.https://t.co/o6OhfOf87r pic.twitter.com/oI7y9sF4PV
— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 29, 2022
The rescue team were interviewed by Jesse Watters on Fox News following, telling him that the old man was “distraught” when they arrived. They took the man to safety at a nearby home, where a neighbor is said to have been taking care of him, according to the interview.
Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida early on Wednesday morning as a Category 4 storm, nearly reaching the Category 5 designation. Storm surges caused mass destruction throughout much of the state’s major coastal towns and cities such as Fort Myers, Naples, and Sanibel Island. (RELATED: Terrifying Timelapse Of Hurricane Ian Shows Mass Devastation)
Fatalities from the storm are not currently known, but Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno told Good Morning America that they were likely “in the hundreds.” The National Hurricane Center issued a warning for the Carolinas and Georgia as Ian traveled over Florida and into the Atlantic, where it gained strength overnight and headed toward the southeastern states.