The Angel of Indian Rocks

A once-in-a-lifetime flood didn't stop a man on a paddleboard from rescuing his neighbors

- BY Derek Burnett

Marty Thomas, with the paddleboard he used to save numerous lives

WHEN HURRICANE HELENE barreled toward Florida’s west coast on Sept. 26, 2024, authorities ordered the evacuation of the small community of Indian Rocks Beach, located on a barrier island just 7 to 10 feet above sea level. But with the Category 4 storm forecast to miss them by more than 100 miles, many residents, including surf instructor Marty Thomas, 52, stayed put.

Then, just before nightfall, with the power to the island cut off, a massive storm surge breached the town's seawalls, dumping water into the streets. Thomas watched it grow from nothing to ankle high in minutes. He rushed to warn his neighbors in the single-story, six-unit complex where he lived.

Thomas's neighbors Mike Moran and his girlfriend, Heather Boles, began loading their dog and three cats as well as a few belongings into Moran's Jeep. Thomas banged on the door of an elderly neighbor who was battling cancer, then helped him out of his bed and into the Jeep. Thomas also woke two remaining neighbors, who quickly piled into their own Jeep along with their pets. Moments later, they sped off, water nearly to their headlights.

Thomas remained behind. His friend George Grant, who lived down the street in a three-story condo, had told him to come and spend the night if his place flooded. Now Thomas watched as rising water began spilling through the windows of his home. Time to split.

He selected a sturdy 12-foot paddleboard, threw some valuables into a backpack, clipped a flashlight to his waist, stood up on the board and paddled through dark, flooded streets to Grant’s condo, part of a series of townhouses. He was tying his board to a tree in chest-deep water when a woman called to him from a balcony. Pointing to a small apartment house across a flooded field, she said, “There’s a woman trapped in that house over there! Will you go check on her?”