Fox Weatherman Stops Live Broadcast to Save Atlanta Woman Trapped in Hurricane Helene Flood

Fox News weather reporter Bob Van Dillen interrupted a live broadcast out of Atlanta to save a woman screaming for help, trapped in her car in a flood caused by Hurricane Helene.

Van Dillen was reporting just after 7 a.m. from Peachtree Creek in North Atlanta, where a rising flood had trapped a woman in her car. As the woman called for help, Van Dillen assured her that 911 had been called and first responders were on the way. But as the woman continued to shout, Van Dillen decided to embark on his own rescue mission, venturing into the flood and carrying her out of her car and to safety.

About half an hour after rescuing the woman, Van Dillen rejoined the “Fox & Friends” broadcast, where anchors Ainsley Earhardt and Steve Doocy asked him about his heroic act.

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“She was panicking. She really wasn’t making too much sense, and she was still strapped into her car seat,” Van Dillen said. “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. So I’m trying to open up the door, Ainsley, and the water pressure wasn’t allowing me to do it. So I said, ‘Roll your window down.’ So she rolls it down and … it allowed me to open the door. …  The battery is still alive and kicking in that car. In fact, I think the engine is still on … the water itself is relatively warm. The water temperature is about 80 degrees.”

Van Dillen said the water went up to his chest, and because the woman was about five feet tall, she likely wouldn’t have been able to wade out of the flood on her own. “I didn’t realize how deep it was,” Van Dillen said of the water. He added that the fire department did eventually arrive about 15 minutes later, but first responders are receiving “so many” 911 calls.

Asked why the woman was able to roll the window down, Van Dillen said, “I don’t know how it worked. And it’s like a miracle that the water actually didn’t short circuit all the boards and allowed the window to go down, because it went down like it was no problem, and it went down right into the water. But that allowed the pressure to be equalized and allowed me to pry the door open, unbuckle her seatbelt, put her on me, in my side. It was good to go.”

Watch videos of the Fox News broadcast below.