Meet Scott Ruskan: The Coast Guard hero who saved 165 lives during the Texas floods
, a
rescue swimmer
with the US Coast Guard, is now being called an "
American hero
" as he saved 165 people affected by the flash floods in Texas during his first mission over the Fourth of July weekend, as reported by Newsweek.
Scott Ruskan Hailed as Hero After Saving 165 in Texas Floods
Ruskan is based out of New Jersey and previously worked at KPMG as an accountant, but later he enlisted in the US Coast Guard in 2021, according to the report. Once he completed rescue swimmer training, he was stationed in Corpus Christi, Texas, as per Newsweek.
The 26-year-old told The New York Post in an interview that, "I'm mostly just a dude. I'm just doing a job. This is what I signed up for, and I think that any single Coast Guard rescue swimmer or any single Coast Guard pilot, flight mechanic, whoever it may be, would have done the exact same thing in our situation," as quoted by Newsweek.
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The rescue swimmer was in charge of triage at Camp Mystic, which is a summer camp where there were 700 girls at the time the flash flood had hit the Guadalupe River, as reported by Newsweek.
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Multi-Agency Teamwork Behind the Rescue
Ruskan's mission needed extensive cooperation between the Coast Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Air National Guard, and Texas Task Force 1, a FEMA urban search and rescue task force, as reported by Newsweek. The search and rescue technician with Texas Task Force 1 had called the Coast Guard for help for an emergency rapid response, as per the report.
He explained that, "That's a little bit outside our area of operation normally, but people were in danger, and we're a good asset to try and help people out, and these guys were asking for help, so that's kind of what we do," as quoted by Newsweek.
Ruskan helped to lead the rescue mission that brought 165 people to safety and said that, "So we basically got the majority of the people out of Camp Mystic, which is awesome. And I feel like we did a lot of good that day, but obviously it's still super sad," and also added that, "There's still a lot of people missing and unaccounted for, so the mission's not over yet. It's not over for us," as quoted in the report.
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Praise From Homeland Security
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem praised Ruskan's efforts on a social media X post, saying, "United States Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer and Petty Officer Scott Ruskin, directly saved an astonishing 165 victims in the devastating flooding in central Texas. This was the first rescue mission of his career and he was the only triage coordinator at the scene. Scott Ruskin is an American hero," as quoted by Newsweek.
Flash Floods Hit Hard Over Holiday Weekend
Flash floods had been going on across central Texas during the Fourth of July weekend and are expected to last up until at least Monday morning, as the Guadalupe River rose over 20 to 26 feet within 90 minutes, which led to widespread devastation and forced evacuations, according to the Newsweek report.
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FAQs
Who is Scott Ruskan?
He is a 26-year-old US Coast Guard rescue swimmer who helped save 165 people in his very first mission, as reported by Newsweek.
What was Ruskan's role in the rescue?
He was in charge of triage and helped coordinate the evacuation of people from a flooded summer camp.
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