Stories of heroic acts emerge in aftermath of Hurricane Helene

Amid the devastation of Hurricane Helene, stories of individual courage and determination are emerging. Marty Thomas, for example, used his surfboard to rescue about a dozen people and their pets near Indian Rocks Beach, Fla.

One victim, Anne McIntosh, had so much water flooding into her home that the door wouldn’t open. “The beds were floating,” she told WTVT-T. “The couch was floating. My brother and his wife were on the counters.”

When the family began screaming for help, Thomas heard them from down the road, hopped on his surfboard and headed toward them. “He saved us,” McIntosh said. “He got the door open. He paddled us across to safety, just as an angel walking.”

Thomas was able to help others as well. As for McIntosh, she is eternally grateful for the kind deed, repeatedly calling Thomas an “angel.” “He’s an angel walking,” she said. “He is the hero of Indian Rocks Beach now. And you do it so gracefully. Thank you. And I love you for it. And you deserve all the good things in life.”

Tragically, Hurricane Helene is the second-deadliest hurricane to strike the U.S. mainland over the past five decades, with at least 190 people confirmed dead. North Carolina has seen more than half of those deaths, with entire towns wiped away in some areas.

Like Thomas’ bold act, other stories of heroic action are emerging across affected regions. For example, Katrina Foster-Fernandez and her seven children have been serving food and supplies to 150 people every day in Ludowici, Ga., since the hurricane began. If I have a chance to help somebody else be OK, I’m always going to do it,” Foster-Fernandez told WJCL-TV. “Always.”

Residents now are bracing for Hurricane Milton, which strengthened to a major Category 4 storm early Monday, driving sustained winds of 150 mph as it rolled across the Gulf of Mexico bound for what could be a devastating crash along Florida’s already storm-battered Gulf coast.

The storm has rapidly intensified, strengthening from a Category 2 storm in a couple of hours. The National Hurricane Center has issued hurricane watches across portions of Florida and warned that parts of the state could be overwhelmed by life-threatening storm surge, flooding rain and damaging winds.

–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice