NJ Weatherman Saves Woman From Hurricane Flood Waters: See Video

NEW JERSEY — As waters from Hurricane Helene rose, FOX Weather meteorologist Bob Van Dillen was reporting live from Atlanta when he heard a woman crying for help from her stranded car.

The New Jersey native had already called 911 to get first responders to the scene, and tried to reassure the woman that help was on the way. But as his live shot continued, Van Dillen realized the woman, who was trapped in the vehicle, needed help immediately — and told the anchors back in the studio that he was going in to get her.

“It’s a situation," he said. "We’ll get back to you in a little bit. I’m going to see if I can help this lady out a little bit more, you guys.”

He later said that he told her to unbuckle her seatbelt and give him her belongings, then pulled her onto his back. The videographer captured footage of him wading through the water with the woman, carrying her to safety.

"She was in there, she was still strapped into her car and the water was actually rising and getting up into the car itself, so she was about, almost neck deep submerged in her own car," Van Dillen recalled in an interview with "Fox and Friends."

"I just said, ‘You know what? I realize I’m with you guys on the air, but I can’t let it go," he continued. “I took my wallet out of my pants, and I went in there, waded in, got chest deep."

Van Dillen said he gave the woman one of his shirts, and she sat in the FOX Weather car for a while to warm up. The woman's husband later came to pick her up.

Van Dillen has been with FOX Weather since July 2023, after more than 20 years as the meteorologist for HLN’s "Morning Express with Robin Meade." He graduated from Randolph High School, and has also worked with CNN and several local television networks along the East Coast.