Poignant images from Bonita Springs, a city in southwestern Florida, show residents rescuing an elderly man after he became trapped in his flooded car. Florida is currently battling Hurricane Ian, which has killed 12 people so far.
The footage shows a group of men – who are waist-deep in water – carrying the older man away from his flooded car. “We saw he was in trouble, and we knew he needed help,” said one of the men, Benny, who shared the video of the rescue on social media. According to Benny, the door on the driver’s side was completely blocked.
“We tried to wring the door open,” he says. “The older man was in a bit of shock, so at first he wouldn’t let go and we had to reassure him that we wanted to help him.” In the end, the group managed to get the man out of the car and get him to safety.
See also: Fire brigade rescues woman trapped in car during flood
Many more victims
Several residential areas are flooded after the passage of Hurricane Ian. Twelve people have been killed so far. In Florida, just over 2 million homes are without power.
Sheriff Carmine Marceno estimates, however, that the hurricane actually claimed many more victims. “There are still thousands of people waiting to be rescued. We can’t judge the gravity of the situation until we get there, but we can’t reach a lot of people, that’s the problem,” he says.
Once the hurricane moves away from Florida’s east coast, it is expected to head toward South Carolina.
Also read:
Hurricane Ian leaves trail of destruction in Florida, so far 12 dead
Expensive hypercar of 1.1 million euros floats out of garage in Florida
See also: Biden on Hurricane Ian: ‘Significant loss of lives’
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