As Hurricane Ian hit Florida, the city of Naples firefighters went online on Facebook to show the chaos.
Tarin Bachle, a public information officer, showed viewers catastrophic flooding from the hurricane on Wednesday. Video captured around 3 p.m. shows fire crews wading through what Bachle describes as four-foot (1.2-meter) deep water.
Firefighters can be seen emptying equipment from the truck, wading back and forth from the building in the murky water.
Debris floats as Bachle captures video from his phone. During the video, the water is actively rising. The winds of Gail’s strength sometimes drown out the sound.
“Hey guys, once again Tarin, your favorite hurricane girl here in Naples. Now we have a truck problem and the guys are pushing the truck out of the bay,” she says in the video.
According to those in the video, which garnered 572,000 views in just a few hours on Wednesday afternoon, firefighters moved the truck out of the building because it started smoking.
“We didn’t want the station to burn down,” the fire chief said.
“Please note that everyone here is safe, we are all well,” Bachle said. “It’s just our building and our property.”
Hurricane Ian slammed into southwest Florida on Wednesday afternoon, bringing winds of 150 mph (241 km/h) as it tracked inland.
About 2.5 million people have been ordered to evacuate the southwestern region of the state, where Naples is located, before the Category 4 storm lands.