Florida Police Rescue American Flag Submerged By Hurricane Ian

A Florida police department made a meaningful rescue from Hurricane Ian's deadly flood waters this week.

A now-viral video posted to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office's Facebook page Monday shows deputies searching the swollen St. Johns River by boat. They were in the Osteen area when a submerged American flag caught their attention. The video shows a female deputy leaning out of the boat to cut the flag free before shaking it out to dry.

"Today on the rising St. Johns River in Osteen, deputies saw an American flag in need of rescue," the caption reads.

Today, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office provided an update on the flag, sharing that it had been returned to where it was found and placed "high and dry by request."

According to the U.S. Flag Code, the American flag should always be able to fly aloft, kink- and fold-free, and should never touch the ground, water, or merchandise.

Hurricane Ian made initial landfall on Cayo Costa island off the coast of Fort Myers, Florida, Wednesday afternoon as a Category 4 storm. It then tore across the peninsula, causing catastrophic flooding throughout Central Florida before making a second landfall in South Carolina as a Category 1 storm.

At least 103 Florida residents died as a result of the storm—the deadliest to hit the state since 1953.