MIAMI — Residents stranded on Sanibel Island by Hurricane Ian flew to the mainland by U.S. Army helicopters after Miami-Dade County rescuers reached them, according to footage released by the agency.
Footage provided by Miami-Dade’s Fire Rescue department shows one firefighter on Thursday carrying a woman to a an all-terrain vehicle in Sanibel, which then shuttled the person to the waiting Army helicopter.
“Fortunately we were able to find a suitable landing zone, and we started to evacuate people,” Miami-Dade Lt. Alex Acosta said in a county-produced video from the Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers. “We ended up transporting approximately 42 individuals and several pets from that area.”
