As Hurricane Milton barreled into and across Florida, it spawned dozens of tornadoes, knocked out power to millions, damaged homes, flooded neighborhoods and led to hundreds of rescues.
Among the most dramatic was a rescue in Tampa, where Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister and a deputy found a 14-year-old boy floating on a piece of fence. Behind where he sat, water had risen almost to the roof of a home.
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“It was literally out of a castaway movie, him laying on top of a fence, waving us,” Chronister told NBC affiliate WFLA after the rescue. “Out of breath, gasping for air as we pulled him up.”
In video share by the sheriff on social media, Chronister can be heard yelling out, "Let me spin around!" And telling the teen: "Stay right there!"
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As they came back to him, the teen waded to the boat, and threw his shoes toward the men, but they landed in the water.
The sheriff and deputy grabbed him as he attempted to climb aboard and lifted him onto the boat.
Chronister later explained that the teen had evacuated to a friend's house ahead of the storm, but when he tried to walk back home the next day, he underestimated how deep the water was and could not swim well enough to get through.
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Chronister and the deputy pulled him out of the floodwater, and took him to dry land where he could continue walking home.
According to the sheriff, the neighborhood was not an evacuation zone and suffered flooding like he’s never seen.
