Hurricane Ian: Fox News’ Steve Harrigan carries survivor to safety while reporting from Florida
Harrigan was preparing for a live shot on ‘The Story’
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News correspondent Steve Harrigan helped assist a stranded Hurricane Ian survivor on Friday, carrying a man out of rising floodwaters in North Port, Florida, to safety.
"It’s a mish-mash here, really, of public and private, of state and volunteers," Harrigan told fill-in host Trace Gallagher after being asked to walk viewers through his caught-on-camera rescue that occurred moments before his live shot on "The Story."
"Everyone is sort of just pitching in to try and get people out of the water, so everyone is lending a hand. And people need help, a lot of people can’t walk that well, older people, you know, my mom’s old, I hope someone would help her," Harrigan explained as video showed him carrying a person to safety.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rescue personnel search a flooded trailer park after Hurricane Ian passed by the area Thursday in Fort Myers, Florida. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
HURRICANE IAN SOUTH CAROLINA LANDFALL IMMINENT; FLORIDA OFFICIALS REPORT MORE DEATHS
"You just got to get them off the boat and get them to shore," he said before pointing out a citizen who was rescuing people with his personal Jet Ski.
Orange County, Florida, experienced major flooding following Hurricane Ian. (Orange County Sheriff's Office)
"He’s been doing it all day," Harrigan said, speaking to citizens looking to help other survivors. "Whatever we see, there is still more demand."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Some people say that we’re on the verge of violence in this country, at each other’s throats, and then you look at Florida and you look at Texas and Hurricane Harvey and people lined up for miles with their own boats, giving up their own vacation time to come and help, and this really is a human-being effort at its finest," Gallagher said.
Video captured by WFTX reporter Elyse Chengery showed a pool at a hotel on Sanibel Island, Florida, on Wednesday, before Hurricane Ian flooded it. (WFTX / Elyse Chengery)
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Florida has activated 5,000 National Guard members and another 2,000 National Guard members from other states are assisting in efforts after Hurricane Ian impacted the state, according to Anne Bink, FEMA assistant administrator, Response and Recovery.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Bink made the comments during a press conference on Friday and said that the National Guard members are assisting with the "search and rescue operation and other emergency protective measures."
Fox News’ Maria Lencki and Adam Sabes contributed to this report.