Florida men stepped up after this bad situation in the aftermath of the hurricane

Florida was ravaged after another powerful hurricane made landfall. 

That left some residents of the Sunshine State in desperate need of help. 

And Florida men stepped up after this bad situation in the aftermath of the hurricane. 

Florida men rescue people from flooding 

Hurricane Helene slammed into the Big Bend region of Florida’s Gulf Coast bringing heavy rain and winds up to 140 miles per hour. 

Many communities in the Tampa Bay area dealt with record storm surge from the storm. 

A wall of seawater flooded coastal communities leaving residents stranded. 

Dave Wilson was in Brandon, Florida watching the security cameras at his parent’s house in Ruskin when water began to come in from the storm. 

“We could just kind of slowly start seeing the water coming up and coming up,” Wilson told Fox 13. 

He saw people who decided to ride out Helene asking for help on social media, and he decided to take action. 

“I was like, you know what, I have the proper gear, I have lights, I have EPIRBS [Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon], I got life jackets,” Wilson said. “I got everything I need to go help. Instead of sitting here and being comfortable in my bed, why don’t I go help somebody.”

Wilson and his brother-in-law used a boat to travel to Ruskin to help rescue people stranded in the flooding. 

Florida town is like something out of a movie 

Wilson recalled running into a father and daughter who were trying to navigate the flooded streets. 

“Found them two,” Wilson stated. “We took them back as far back as we could without damaging the motor.”

He said that Ruskin looked like something out of a disaster movie from the devastation that Helene caused. 

“It was like a movie scene,” Wilson said. “I mean, this looks like the end of the world. Like it was, it was scary.”

Wilson was flagged down by another man in a flooded trailer. 

“He could barely speak, but he signaled he definitely needed help,” Wilson explained. 

He took the man on a more than 30-minute journey by boat to safety. 

Wilson stayed out until 4:30 am with his boat when the water level began to go down and was forced to retreat. 

He managed to rescue three people, keep someone’s boat from floating away, and help emergency crews who were in the neighborhood. 

“There are not enough people to help everybody,” Wilson said. “There are a lot more civilians than there are first responders out there. So, there’s going to have to be civilians that want to step up and help when there are situations like this.”

The people that he rescued were total strangers, but he hopes to reconnect with them.

Countless people stepped across the southeast in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene to help their fellow man. 

The Biden-Harris administration dragged its feet with getting help to the victims of the storm. 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that he learned to not count on the federal government in the aftermath of a hurricane. 

“But the lesson that I think people should take from this is one, we learned in Florida long ago,” DeSantis about Helene. “We don’t rely on FEMA to do any of that type of activity. We take the matters into our own hands for the preparation and the rescue and response.”