A man and dog who sailed off the coast of Sanibel Island as Hurricane Helene approached Florida was rescued by the Coast Guard on Thursday.
The unnamed man had been about 25 miles from Sanibel Island when his 36-foot sailboat became disabled and began taking on water, the Coast Guard said said on social media.
Video shows a Coast Guard member from Air Station Clearwater descending into choppy seas from a helicopter to reach the man and dog. Once the rescuer was close enough to the boat, both the man and the dog went out into the rough water and were strapped into a rescue basket that was hoisted back to the helicopter. The final moments of the video show the man holding his dog and exchanging high-fives with his rescuers.
The man and dog were taken to Southwest Florida International Airport, where they met with emergency responders, the Coast Guard said. The couple were “reported to be in good medical condition,” the agency said.
The vessel remains operational and disabled, the Coast Guard said.
Hurricane Helene struck into Florida’s Big Bend as a Category 4 storm on Thursday night, just hours after the rescue, brings life-threatening storm surgestrong winds and heavy rain to the region. As the storm raced inland, it was downgraded to a tropical storm. It is the fourth hurricane to make landfall on the Gulf Coast this year.