The U.S. Coast Guard rescues a man and his dog off the coast of Sanibel Island, Florida, during Hurricane Helene September 26. (U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater)
U.S. search and rescue teams that often work abroad are saving fellow Americans from Hurricane Helene’s floodwaters. Helene hit Florida September 26 as a Category 4 storm, bringing widespread floods and leaving millions without power.
The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a man and his dog near Sanibel Island in southwest Florida. Further north, around Tampa Bay, hundreds were rescued from rising waters. Rescues are also underway in other states, including Georgia and Tennessee.
The U.S. Coast Guard and other rescue teams responding in Florida, including Virginia’s Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, also respond to disasters around the world.
Fairfax teams conducted rescues after devastating earthquakes in Türkiye in February 2023 and in Nepal in April 2015. The U.S. Coast Guard evacuated injured people after an earthquake struck Haiti in August 2021, and rescued 400 people in The Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian in September 2019.
