An act of kindness and bravery is what humanity needs, and that is exactly what a television news reporter did by heroically saving a nurse trapped in her car during Hurricane Ian’s flooding in Florida.

Tony Atkins, an Orlando-based reporter working for WESH 2 News, was in the middle of a live news report when he saw the woman trapped in her car. Television cameras recorded him going to her car, surrounded by water, and getting her out.

Atkins lifted the woman onto his back and carried her and her purse to safety.

WTMJ-TV, a Milwaukee-based TV station and Atkins’s former employer, posted the video. They reported that Atkins rescued the nurse after she tried to drive through the treacherous flood waters to go to work early Thursday morning.

The video footage shows the water at Atkins’s waist level as she crawled out of her car onto his back. He walked the two of them out of danger and finally let her down when the water level was at his feet.

Atkins later updated his Twitter account that the essential worker had made it to work safely. He shared a screenshot of a sweet message the nurse’s daughter sent him, thanking him for saving her mom. The daughter said that her mother’s job was at risk, and if she had not gotten to the hospital, they would have fired her.

The reporter, who is being hailed a hero by many, said that no police were in the area to help the woman get out of the car, and he decided to go and try to rescue her.

Atkin was celebrated on social media with many tweets by current and former colleagues praising him for his heroic actions.

Hurricane Ian has been called one of the most destructive storms in the country’s history. Beginning Tuesday night, Ian hit Florida with heavy rains and strong, powerful winds, leaving many areas of the state in disarray. Thousands of people in Florida needed to be rescued from flooded homes and buildings that the hurricane mulled through.

Before its approach in Florida, Hurricane Ian had been downgraded to a tropical storm, but it quickly reclaimed hurricane status when it struck Florida on Wednesday as a category four hurricane, among the hardest-hitting storms in the US. It made landfall miles from Fort Myers on the west coast. Not only did Ian flood and destroy homes; it cut off road access to an island and caused a power outage to over 2.5 million homes and businesses.

Reports indicate that more than ten people have died in different Florida counties, and the death toll is expected to rise.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the storm was unlike anything the state had ever experienced, and its impact and subsequent damage were historic, calling it a “500-year flooding event.”

The National Hurricane Center issued a public advisory that Hurricane Ian was headed to the Carolinas, and a hurricane warning was issued for areas from the Savannah River to Cape Fear. It was expected to cause life-threatening impacts with flooding, storm surges, and strong winds.