Weatherman Bob Van Dillen likely knew it was going to be an eventful night covering Hurricane Helene for Fox as the Category 4 storm made landfall, but he couldn’t have imagined just how eventful it would get.
Van Dillen was doing a live national standup in Atlanta early this morning with a flooded roadway as a backdrop.
“You can see right here we’ve got this lady that drove into the area that’s flooded out and she’s screaming right now,” he told the Fox & Friends studio hosts. After describing the scene for a few more seconds with the sound of the woman’s voice in the background, Van Dillen told the audience, “I just called 911. The fire department is coming.”
He then turned to try and comfort the woman assuring her help is on the way before cutting his live shot short, telling the studio, “It’s a situation. We’ll get back to you in a bit. I’m going to see if I can help this lady out.”
Cut to video of Van Dillen carrying the woman on his back through chest deep floodwaters before literally giving her the shirt off his back so she could get warm.
Van Dillen wasn’t the only hero who braved the storm.
A U.S. Coastguard rescue helicopter flew out into the hurricane to save a man and his dog on a disabled sailboat.
Elsewhere, on Atlanta resident was caught on video using a sleeping air mattress as a life raft as rescue workers patrolled the chest-high floodwaters saving people.
Woman Turns Boeing Plane Into Fully Functional Home
Buses, small houses, and shipping containers have all seen a surge in appeal as potential building materials for one-of-a-kind dwellings.
These alternatives to standard lodgings offer the same level of comfort at a fraction of the price and with a wide range of personalization options.
But Jo Ann Ussery made her own unique house long before it was cool.
She bought a decommissioned Boeing 727 and transformed it into a lavish mansion.
(video of the plane can be found below)
One-of-a-kind housing
In 1993, Ussery’s home in Benoit, Mississippi was destroyed, marking the beginning of her journey.
Her husband had recently passed away, so she and her two kids needed a place to live but had very little money.
She had hoped that getting a trailer would solve all of her issues, but she soon discovered that she couldn’t afford a house that was big enough to accommodate her family of three.
Ussery’s brother-in-law, Bob, is an air traffic controller and proposed that they try living on an airplane.
Ussery was receptive to the concept, so he went to examine a Boeing 727 that was about to be broken up for parts.
She fell in love at first sight, and the price, including shipping, was only $2,000.
Ussery gave her Boeing 727 the moniker “Little Trump” after learning that Donald Trump also had a private Boeing 727.
She jumped right into her expensive and time-consuming home improvements.
Major refurbishment
She put in less than $30,000 (around $60,000 in today’s money) on the makeover.
She needed to make sure it stayed put in its current location while she worked on the inside.
Ussery made use of the lake that was already present on her property by parking the plane such that the nose pointed out over the water. Because of this particular reason, a substantial amount of concrete was used to secure the tail. She then started demolishing the nearly 1,500 square foot interior.
The plane measures 138 feet in length and has 76 windows.
The windows did not open, as is standard on commercial planes, but that was not a problem on the Ussery because the plane was equipped with air conditioning.
She upgraded the insulation and laid new flooring as well. What exactly from the original 727 has been preserved?
Having only one airplane lavatory and the overhead bins to store your belongings is a brilliant answer to the problem of limited space.
Interior features
Ussery was able to move on to the finer touches and extra comforts after the major renovations were finished.
There were three bedrooms, a living area, a kitchen, and even a laundry room in the updated plane.
It also had an oven and a phone in addition to the washer and dryer.
What Ussery did with the cockpit looking out over the lake was unquestionably the best improvement.
She renovated it into a master bathroom fit for a king, complete with a soaking tub.
She planned the room’s layout so that its occupants would feel as though they were floating in midair.
Most notably, Ussery did all the remodeling work by herself.
Between 1995 until 1999, she called her converted jet home before deciding to open it to the world as a museum.
It was being transported a short distance when it tragically fell off the carriage and was destroyed.
It’s a good thing we have these breathtaking snapshots below:
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