{"id":20016,"date":"2024-10-08T10:21:15","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T14:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=20016"},"modified":"2024-10-08T10:21:15","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T14:21:15","slug":"florida-surfer-helps-save-over-a-dozen-people-during-hurricane-helene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/10\/florida-surfer-helps-save-over-a-dozen-people-during-hurricane-helene.html","title":{"rendered":"Florida Surfer Helps Save Over a Dozen People During Hurricane Helene"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_20013\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20013\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2024\/10\/surfer-rescue-helene_credit-Adobe-Stock_Inset-FOX-13-Tampa-Bay-YouTube.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-20013\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2024\/10\/surfer-rescue-helene_credit-Adobe-Stock_Inset-FOX-13-Tampa-Bay-YouTube.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20013\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adobe Stock | Inset: FOX 13 Tampa Bay \/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A Florida man is being called a hero and an \u201cangel\u201d after rescuing over a dozen people during hurricane Helene while on his surfboard. The hurricane had made landfall on Indian Rocks Beach when Anne McIntosh\u2019s house began to flood. \u201cThe beds were floating. The couch was floating. My brother and his wife were on the counters,\u201d McIntosh told a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/news\/indian-rocks-beach-surfer-saves-dozen-trapped-flooded-homes-during-hurricane-helene-he-saved-us\">local station<\/a>. They were unable to open the doors to escape and began calling for help. McIntosh\u2019s neighbor a couple blocks down, Marty Thomas, heard the screams and jumped onto his surfboard, paddling over to help the family. \u201cI was walking around in the back unit just thinking, \u2018what am I going to do?\u2019 And all of a sudden I hear a voice, and he&#8217;s saying, &#8216;We&#8217;ll get you. We&#8217;ll get you.&#8217; And it was Marty,\u201d McIntosh recalled.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas was able to get the door pried open with the help of a friend and rescue the three individuals. \u201cHe saved us. He got the door open. He paddled us across to safety. And just as an angel walking,\u201d said McIntosh. But it was just the start of Thomas\u2019s day. For the next four hours, with the help of a friend using a flashlight to guide him, Thomas went around the neighborhood helping rescue people from their homes and even some pets. Thomas recalled how he helped save a St. Bernard by throwing him out the window into the water. The dog was able to swim to the board for safety.<\/p>\n<p>Despite his heroic actions, Thomas remained humble when interviewed about the rescues. Speaking with McIntosh by his side, he called her \u201ctough.\u201d \u201cShe didn&#8217;t even need my help. It was up to here on her,\u201d he said, indicating chest high. \u201cShe was carrying stuff on her head.\u201d McIntosh had chosen to stay because it had never flooded in the area before, a mistake she vows never to repeat again. \u201cI\u2019ve learned a good lesson. Thanks to my angel here. I have the choice. Next time, I will evacuate,\u201d she said. She called Thomas an \u201cangel walking\u201d and \u201cthe hero of Indian Rocks Beach.\u201d \u201cThank you. I appreciate that. You&#8217;re pretty awesome yourself,\u201d Thomas responded to the praise.<\/p>\n<p>To date, over 200 people have died along the southeast coast. Three casualties were reported in Indian Rocks Beach. Many people continue without power or access to necessary supplies while FEMA receives scrutiny over what is perceived as its slow response. You can find ways to help those impacted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.samaritanspurse.org\/disaster\/hurricane-helene\/?utm_source=Ggl&amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;utm_campaign=m_YGND-B24V&amp;utm_content=HurricaneHelene&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwx4O4BhAnEiwA42SbVCzADjkivtlM1gzWSQQ_YtuZWNXa0qZB5NNPcdWwGn6M4h0Y6UUbmhoC8H0QAvD_BwE\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Florida man is being called a hero and an \u201cangel\u201d after rescuing over a dozen people during hurricane Helene while on his surfboard. The hurricane had made landfall on Indian Rocks Beach when Anne McIntosh\u2019s house began to flood. \u201cThe beds were floating. The couch was floating. My brother and his wife were on&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":627,"featured_media":20013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-people"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Florida Surfer Helps Save Over a Dozen People During Hurricane Helene<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/10\/florida-surfer-helps-save-over-a-dozen-people-during-hurricane-helene.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Florida Surfer Helps Save Over a Dozen People During Hurricane Helene\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Florida man is being called a hero and an \u201cangel\u201d after rescuing over a dozen people during hurricane Helene while on his surfboard. The hurricane had made landfall on Indian Rocks Beach when Anne McIntosh\u2019s house began to flood. \u201cThe beds were floating. The couch was floating. My brother and his wife were on&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/10\/florida-surfer-helps-save-over-a-dozen-people-during-hurricane-helene.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Inspiration Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-08T14:21:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2024\/10\/surfer-rescue-helene_credit-Adobe-Stock_Inset-FOX-13-Tampa-Bay-YouTube.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cecilia Buchanan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Florida Surfer Helps Save Over a Dozen People During Hurricane Helene","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/10\/florida-surfer-helps-save-over-a-dozen-people-during-hurricane-helene.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Florida Surfer Helps Save Over a Dozen People During Hurricane Helene","og_description":"A Florida man is being called a hero and an \u201cangel\u201d after rescuing over a dozen people during hurricane Helene while on his surfboard. The hurricane had made landfall on Indian Rocks Beach when Anne McIntosh\u2019s house began to flood. \u201cThe beds were floating. The couch was floating. My brother and his wife were on&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/10\/florida-surfer-helps-save-over-a-dozen-people-during-hurricane-helene.html","og_site_name":"Inspiration Report","article_published_time":"2024-10-08T14:21:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2024\/10\/surfer-rescue-helene_credit-Adobe-Stock_Inset-FOX-13-Tampa-Bay-YouTube.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cecilia Buchanan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/10\/florida-surfer-helps-save-over-a-dozen-people-during-hurricane-helene.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/10\/florida-surfer-helps-save-over-a-dozen-people-during-hurricane-helene.html","name":"Florida Surfer Helps Save Over a Dozen People During Hurricane 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