A Sunrise cameraman has dramatically dropped his gear and rushed to the assistance of Florida residents fleeing rising floodwaters.
During a live cross from the Florida city of Naples on Thursday morning, Channel 7 US correspondent Tim Lester was broadcasting to the Sunrise breakfast program when his cameramen, Glen Ellis, dropped his gear and ran to group of people trying to cross floodwaters.
“Oh, are you OK?” Sunrise host David Koch asks.
“Fine, we’re just helping some people through the water here,” Ellis replies.
“We’ve spoken to a couple of them and they tell us already that their houses have been lost in the water, that they’re flooded right through.
“They’ve had to abandon them – they’ve just had no other way of doing it.”
There are reports Hurricane Ian may be the fifth-strongest hurricane in US history at landfall, with more than one million Florida residents already without power.
The hurricane made landfall as a category 4 storm about 3.05pm local time (5.50am AEST).
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned people on Thursday morning not to go outside.
“One hundred and fifty-five mile-an-hour (249km/h) winds are incredibly dangerous,” Mr DeSantis told the media.
“This is a really, really significant storm.”
A curfew between 10pm and 6am has also been put in place in Naples.
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