The Coast Guard performed a rescue on Monday afternoon for a man who found himself stranded in rough waters off the coast of Cape Cod after a nor’easter swept through the area.
Passengers aboard a Steamship Corporation ferry were understandably alarmed when a man was seen wandering near Juniper Point Woods Hole, shrouded in thick fog.
The ferry crew reported the sighting around 3:30 p.m., with some members attempting to assist him by tossing life rings into the water while waiting for the Coast Guard to arrive.
“Out of nowhere, someone shouted, ‘Man overboard.’ It was really intense because everyone on the boat immediately sprang into action,” shared ferry passenger Roy Mundy.
“It was very shocking. I saw my son crying by the door and his father trying to find him, desperate to get him back because he was so scared. It was really intense,” Mandy recounted.
The ferry had just departed Juniper Point Woods Hole Wharf in Falmouth, Massachusetts, when a passenger noticed the man in the water. The boat was meant to head to Martha’s Vineyard at 3:45 p.m., according to the Steamship Authority’s schedule.
A Coast Guard helicopter arrived around 4:25 p.m., approximately an hour after the ferry crew first spotted the man, and located him near Cape Nobska.
The man was struggling against rough currents, strong winds, and high waves, but fortunately, the tide had begun to recede after peaking earlier in the day.
Coast Guard rescue swimmers were deployed, and the exhausted man was successfully lifted into the helicopter.
He was transported to Joint Base Cape Cod and subsequently taken to Falmouth Hospital, where he was treated for exposure; thankfully, his injuries didn’t appear to be severe.
The circumstances that led to the man being in the water remain unclear, and Falmouth Police are currently looking into the situation.
This nor’easter not only brought strong winds that caused trees to fall but also generated waves reaching up to 10 feet on some beaches.
In New York, a tragic incident occurred when a 76-year-old woman in Brooklyn was killed by a solar panel that was blown off a nearby roof.
Fortunately, New York and New Jersey avoided the brunt of the storm, with most areas reporting just 1 to 2 inches of rain.
Meanwhile, several southern states suffered significant rainfall, with South Carolina and North Carolina experiencing 10 and 4 inches, respectively.
