• Fox Weather's Bob Van Dillen rescued a woman from flood waters live on air in Atlanta.
  • Hurricane Helene has caused severe flooding and power outages across the southeastern US.
  • The Category 4 hurricane made landfall near Perry, Florida, on Thursday night.

Fox Weather reporter Bob Van Dillen rescued a woman from flood waters live on air while reporting on the impact of Hurricane Helene in Atlanta in the early hours of Friday morning.

In the dramatic footage, Van Dillen could be seen wading into chest-deep water to carry the woman, who was trapped in her car, to safety.

Van Dillen, who was reporting live at the time on "Fox and Friends," said he leapt into action after hearing her cries for help.

"I took my wallet out of my pants, and I went in there, waded in, got chest deep," Van Dillen later told "Fox and Friends" hosts Steve Doocy and Janice Dean.

"She was in there, she was still strapped into her car and the water was actually rising and getting up into the car itself, so she was about, almost neck deep submerged in her own car," he said, adding that she would likely have drowned if he hadn't stepped in.

In the live report, a man who appeared to be the woman's husband could be seen shaking Van Dillen's hand and thanking him.

"I'd do it again," Van Dillen responded. He then carried on with his Fox Weather report about the record water levels in the area.

Spokespeople for Fox did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, which was made outside of normal working hours.

At the time of writing, at least 52 people had been killed in the storm, which has battered the southeast coast of the US, according to the Associated Press.

Millions of people across Florida and nearby states have been left without power as flood waters rose to record highs in many areas.

The Category 4 hurricane made landfall near Perry, Florida, just east of the mouth of the Aucilla River, on Thursday night. Wind speeds reached up to 140 miles per hour.

The National Hurricane Center said on Saturday that Helene had been downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone and was moving slowly across the Tennessee Valley, with heavy rain lessening.

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