Hurricane Helene in the United States: a weather presenter saves a woman live

While Atlanta was being hit by storm Helene, a Fox News weather presenter stopped his live broadcast to go to the rescue of a resident stuck in her car.

Since Thursday, September 26, American continuous news channels have been covering the consequences and damage of Hurricane Helene, which is ravaging the United States. It first crossed Florida, in the southeast, then went up to Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, leaving, according to the latest reports, more than 130 dead and hundreds missing. It was in Georgia, in Atlanta, that a scene worthy of a superhero film took place, live, on American television. Bob Van Dillen, meteorologist for the Fow News channel, broadcasts live around 7 a.m., with his feet in the water, to show the damage from the floods in northern Atlanta.

As his live broadcast has just started, he shows a car stuck in the water. “We can see a woman stranded in a flooded area,” he describes, while we hear a woman screaming for help. “We called 911 [le numéro d’urgence aux États-Unis]”adds the presenter, who continues to describe the situation. He attempts to address the distressed woman, assuring her that “help is coming”trying to reassure her: “It’ll be OK.”

Except that the woman continues to scream for help, and the water continues to rise. This is where Bob Van Dillen decides to cut his live broadcast short, warning that “we’ll be back in a little while, I’m going to go see if I can help this woman. I’ll be back”.

A few moments later, we find the presenter, carrying the driver in his arms, while the water has almost reached the top of the car. “Thank God. He’s a hero.”we can hear from the Fox News presenters who are on set. Once the woman is rescued and safe, Bob Van Dillen confirms that they are both fine, and recounts on the air what happened.

“We know that emergency services are overwhelmed by calls, and we could hear him screaming very loudly”he explains. “I realized that, even though I was live, I couldn’t leave her. I dropped everything, took my wallet out of my pocket and went. The power was out. not so strong”, he assures. Once he got into the car, he described the situation “she had water up to her neck, I told her to give me her bag, her phone, and I took her on my back. She wasn’t big, I was able to carry her. She was shaking, she was in shock.”

The presenter on set then qualifies his gesture “heroic act”while recalling that “you’re not supposed to do that”taking into account the risks. Since then, Bob Van Dillen’s rescue has made the rounds on social media.