Milwaukee native and former TMJ4 reporter rescues woman from car during Hurricane Ian flooding
A Milwaukee native and former TMJ4 reporter is being hailed a hero during his station's storm coverage in Florida.
While covering Tropical Storm Ian, Tony Atkins — now a reporter for WESH 2 News in the Orlando area — rescued a woman from her car stuck in high floodwaters.
The woman, a nurse, was on her way to work early Thursday and attempted to drive through the flooding caused by the hurricane, according to a WESH 2 report.
Atkins held the woman's purse for her as she finished crawling out of her car's window and onto his back, the video shows. The waters were at least to Atkins' waist.
With the purse still in hand, Atkins waded the two of them through the flooding. And when he got to a place where the water was only submerging his feet, he let her down.
WAY TO GO, TONY! Former Milwaukee reporter Tony Atkins, who works in Orlando now, saved a nurse who was trying to get to work from Hurricane Ian floodwaters -> https://t.co/Gej75A1E5m pic.twitter.com/SLvQRz3TL1
— NBC15 News (@nbc15_madison) September 29, 2022
"Incredible strength and bravery. So proud of our Milwaukee native, friend, and former colleague, @TonyAtkinsTV. You’re making us all proud," veteran TMJ4 news anchor Susan Kim tweeted.
Later Thursday morning, Atkins shared on Twitter that the nurse made it to work. "Her job as a nurse hung in the balance, according to her daughter," his tweet said.
The daughter also sent a heartfelt and grateful message to Atkins, which he also included in his post.
"So glad things worked out," he said in the tweet.
🙏🏽
Our woman from early this morning made it to work. Her job as a nurse hung in the balance, according to her daughter. I got this message from her daughter today! So glad things worked out. #NoCarNoProblem pic.twitter.com/8yBHaGY8jI— Tony Atkins (@TonyAtkinsTV) September 29, 2022
During our live coverage, our reporter @TonyAtkinsTV stopped to save a woman who got stuck in some heavy flooding. "I just had to." What a hero! pic.twitter.com/yEuNhD9EqW
— Caelan Dooley (@caelandooley) September 29, 2022
Atkins graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2013. He joined TMJ4 in 2019 after working for FOX13 News in Memphis, WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh and the Austin-American Statesman in Texas, his bio said.
Atkins, who's from Milwaukee's north side, just left TMJ4 in August.
Some thoughts of gratitude.
Milwaukee, thank you. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/aGwteeCGHH— Tony Atkins (@TonyAtkinsTV) August 12, 2022
Contact Hannah Kirby at hannah.kirby@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HannahHopeKirby.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Hurricane Ian: Milwaukee native, WESH reporter Tony Atkins saves woman
