Incredible moment man and his dog rescued from sea following Hurricane

This is the heart-pounding moment a man and his dog had to abandon ship and be rescued by the coastguard after their ship started taking on water in rough seas sparked by 140mph Hurricane Helene.

The monster category four storm smashed into the United States on Thursday evening hitting Florida first, before weakening into a tropical depression as it wreaked havoc inland in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Yesterday (Thurs) a man on his 36-foot boat in the Gulf of Mexico made a distress call after his vessel began dangerously taking on water in the wake of the storm.

US Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater responded to the man's mayday call and a helicopter was dispatched to winch the man and his dog to safety.

Dramatic video of the moment of the rescue shows the male and his faithful hound, both wearing life jackets, abandoning ship before they swim over to a rescuer who hooks them up to a gurney which climbs up towards the helicopter.

Sharing the rescue online the US Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater wrote: "USCG Air Station Clearwater saved a man and his dog, Thursday, during Hurricane Helene after his 36-foot sailboat became disabled and started taking on water approximately 25 miles off Sanibel Island."

Sanibel Island lies in Lee County, Florida, and was more or less directly in the path of Hurricane Helene as she approached the mainland.

So far there have been at least 40 known fatalities from Helene as of Friday afternoon, which includes people killed in the states of Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina.

The BBC reports four million households were without electricity by Friday lunchtime across the south-eastern US.

In Tennessee, another dramatic rescue unfolded as more than 50 patients and staff had to be airlifted and evacuated from the roof of Unicoi Hospital in Erwin after water overwhelmed the area.

Patrick Sheehan, Tennessee's emergency operations director, said: "The water there simply came up faster with more debris than was safe to operate in the rafts to ferry from a dry point back to the hospital.

After other helicopters failed to reach the hospital because of the storm's winds, a Virginia State Police helicopter was able to land on the roof.

Three National Guard helicopters with hoist capabilities were on the way, officials said.