A New Jersey man with the U.S. Coast Guard is being hailed as a hero for helping rescue more than 165 people from the deadly Texas floods.
Many of those rescued were girls staying at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp, where at least 27 other campers and counselors died in the devastating flash flooding.
“It was pretty traumatic”
As the Guadalupe River surged in Texas on the Fourth of July, Coast Guard rescue swimmer Scott Ruskan, who is from New Jersey, flew with his team through severe weather to get to Camp Mystic, where hundreds were trapped.
“We decided the best course of action was to leave me there,” Ruskan said.
Ruskan, 26, was on his first mission out of Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. He found himself on the ground in the flood zone, setting up triage and comforting many girls at the camp.
“It was pretty traumatic. You have a lot of kids who are having probably the worst day of their life, they are missing friends, they are missing loved ones, they don’t know where they are,” Ruskan said.
“Bridges were gone, roadways were gone”
Ruskan and colleagues from the Air National Guard rescued 165 victims from the flood.
“They were in need of airlift. There was no other way to get them out. Bridges were gone, roadways were gone, and the water was coming up too high for boat rescue. The only option was airlift,” Ruskan said.
Ruskan credited his crew. His family said he did exactly what he was trained to do.
“This is exactly what he wants to do”
Ruskan was sworn in to the U.S. Coast Guard while at Rider University during the height of the COVID pandemic. His mother and aunt said the Warren County, N.J., native went to college for accounting but quickly realized saving lives was his calling.
“Very proud. He is doing what he loves to do. This is exactly what he wants to do,” his mother, Eileen Ruskan, said.
“We are just grateful for him, you know, on the other hand, so full of sadness for these people that are living through what really he has tried to help and do his very best in,” his aunt, Marie Rowan, said.
“My thoughts and prayers go out to all the families that are involved in this today and the last few days,” Eileen Ruskan said.
Christine Sloan is an Emmy Award-winning reporter, who covers New Jersey for CBS News New York. Sloan re-joined the station in January 2023. She also worked at CBS News New York from 2004 to 2016.
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