Meteorologist Rescues Woman from Rising Hurricane Helene Floodwaters During Broadcast: 'Couldn't Wait'

A meteorologist sprang into action after spotting a woman stuck in floodwaters caused by Hurricane Helene.

Fox Weather’s Bob Van Dillen was covering the storm near Atlanta before sunrise on Friday, Sept. 27, when he heard a woman yell for help near Peach Tree Creek, according to the outlet.

"All of a sudden we heard some screaming and we turned around and we're like, "Oh my, there's a woman that drove into the floodwaters," Van Dillen, who was doing a live shot at the time, tells PEOPLE.

But after calling 911 and waiting a few minutes, Van Dillen took matters into his own hands and entered the chest-deep water.

The meteorologist, who is from the area where the rescue occurred, said he simply “couldn’t wait anymore," per Fox Weather.

“She was getting panicked a little bit more because the water was coming up a little bit higher,” he added.

Eventually, Van Dillen was able to grab the woman and carry her to safety. The footage shared by the outlet showed the water over the hood of the woman’s car as she was carried away.

The woman who was rescued is okay, according to Van Dillen, who put her in a car and gave her a shirt after helping her escape the floodwaters. 

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The woman’s husband arrived to pick her up a short time later, and Fox Weather captured the moment the two were reunited.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” her husband said while shaking Van Dillen’s hand.

As of the evening of Friday, Sept. 27, at least 40 people have died in connection to Helene, which made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in the Big Bend area of Florida the previous days.

In just a matter of hours, the storm delivered damaging wind gusts as well as “catastrophic, life-threatening, [and] record-breaking” flooding in many areas, especially the higher terrains of the southeastern Appalachians, where “numerous significant landslides” are also expected through Friday, Sept. 27.

"This storm was a monster. It was so big and it affected so many people," Van Dillen tells PEOPLE. "You hate to hear all the stories of what people are going through now. The power outages are going to be out there for weeks in some spots. People did lose their lives. It's a terrible situation. I honestly hate hurricanes."