When a disabled Naples, FL, woman was threatened by rising water associated with Hurricane Ian, her son, a former North Chicago police officer, responded through the flood to rescue her. The former officer, Johnny Lauder, is also reported to have had rescue diver training.
Lauder, a Chicago native who moved to Naples with his family about 20 years ago, was riding out the Category 4 storm at his older son's house, which is about a half a mile from his 86-year-old mother's home. He documented his response and the rescue on video.
She had decided to stay through the storm since she did the same during Hurricane Irma in 2017 and only experienced minor flooding then, reports FOX32. This time was different, and she called her son saying the water was up to her wheelchair and hitting her belly button.
After 45 minutes of swimming, walking, wading, and pushing through the water, Lauder made it to her house where he heard her screaming. When he got inside, he put his mom on a table and bundled her in dry sheets.
Lauder spent three hours waiting for the water level to drop, then he pushed his mom to higher ground in her wheelchair. His son then arrived to help Lauder get the elderly woman the rest of the way back to his home.
