During Hurricane Helene, surfer Marty Thomas became a hero in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. He used his surfboard to rescue over a dozen people and their pets from flooded homes.
Hurricane Helene hit the Gulf coast hard on Thursday. In Indian Rocks Beach, Anne McIntosh faced a scary situation in her home. “The beds were floating. The couch was floating. My brother and his wife were on the counters,” she said. The water rose fast, trapping her family inside.
McIntosh, her brother, and his wife called for help as water filled their home. Their door was stuck, making escape impossible. Two blocks away, Marty Thomas heard their cries. He grabbed his surfboard, threw it out the window, and paddled toward the screams.
McIntosh remembers the moment Thomas arrived: “I was walking around in the back unit just thinking, ‘what am I going to do?’ And all of a sudden I hear a voice, and he’s saying, ‘We’ll get you. We’ll get you.’ And it was Marty.” Thomas and a friend opened the stuck door and helped McIntosh’s family to safety.
Thomas didn’t stop there. For hours, he rode his surfboard through flooded streets, saving about a dozen people and their pets. His friend on a second-floor balcony used a flashlight to guide him to others calling for help.
One rescue stood out. Thomas had to save a large St. Bernard dog. “She had the St. Bernard, which is a heavy dog, you know, so she couldn’t lift the dog. So, I just picked the dog up and threw it out the window. He jumped right on the paddle board and was good,” Thomas explained.
McIntosh was deeply moved by Thomas’s bravery. She called him an “angel” many times. “He’s an angel walking. He is the hero of Indian Rocks Beach now. And you do it so gracefully. Thank you. And I love you for it. And you deserve all the good things in life,” she told him.
Thomas stayed humble despite the praise. “Thank you. I appreciate that. You’re pretty awesome yourself,” he replied to McIntosh. He even praised her strength, saying, “Anne is tough. She didn’t even need my help. It was up to here on her. She was carrying stuff on her head.”
The hurricane shocked many long-time residents of Indian Rocks Beach. McIntosh said she’d never seen flooding there in her 27 years living in the area.
McIntosh regrets staying during the hurricane. She’s learned an important lesson. “I never flood,” she said. “Well, I flooded. I’ve learned a good lesson. Thanks to my angel here. I have the choice. Next time, I will evacuate.”
Marty Thomas’s story is one of many showing courage during Hurricane Helene. In Ludowici, Georgia, Katrina Foster-Fernandez and her seven children have been feeding 150 people daily since the storm hit. “If I have a chance to help somebody else be OK, I’m always going to do it,” Foster-Fernandez told WJCL-TV. “Always.”
The storm has killed at least 200 people, making it the second-deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland in 50 years. North Carolina suffered the most, with over half the deaths and entire towns destroyed.
As communities start to rebuild, stories like Marty Thomas’s give us hope. They show how one person’s brave actions can make a big difference in tough times.
This inspiring story challenges us to act. We may not face hurricanes, but we can help others daily. We can offer kind words, listen, or help a neighbor. In doing so, we share God’s love.
Let’s pray for Hurricane Helene’s victims and ask for strength to be as selfless and brave as Marty Thomas and others like him.
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