Jason Brownlee, a U.S. Coast Guard pilot, is used to being a hero. However, once Hurricane Harvey unleashed its fury, he was in need of one. After the hurricane’s effects flooded the greater Houston area and the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Houston put out an urgent 3 AM call for his services, the 34-year-old found himself flooded and trapped inside his home.

“Every road that I could take to get in was impassable,” said Brownlee, via HuffPo. A rescue aircraft went to pick him up from his home and he went straight to work on a rescue mission of his own. “I came in, put my uniform on, grabbed my gear, a crew, a helicopter,” he continued.

Amongst the 72,000+ people that have been rescued from the Category 4 hurricane’s effects, at least 744 aerial rescues in the greater Houston area have saved victims per a U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson.  

“My famous last words were, ‘Hurricane Harvey is going to be nothing,’” mused Brownlee. Brownlee never expected that this single hurricane’s rescue mission would result in him saving 20 lives, 3 times as many people as he has saved throughout his entire career as a U.S. Coast Guard pilot.

HuffPo reporters went along with Brownlee’s unit to survey flooding around Port Arthur and Beaumont, which were two of the hardest hit cities. “We were using Google Maps to fly above highways because we know that there are no towers over the highways,” Brownlee said of one of their most dangerous missions, which occurred during an extremely heavy downpour, making it hard to see the ground below. “I don’t think I’m ever going to forget that experience.”

Eric Cylbulski, flight mechanic in the unit, couldn’t help but reminisce about his rescue missions during the Hurricane Katrina aftermath in 2005, where he spent 11 days in New Orleans. “We would get the smells from downtown ― the winds would shift and the smell of death would come,” he said. “Being here, it brings back the emotions, for sure.”

Much like Brownlee’s incorrect observation, most people weren’t expecting the magnitude in which Harvey’s furor exploded over Texas. “This one caught a lot of people off guard,” said Cybulski. “I don’t think the Houston area was expecting something of this magnitude ― this much rain.”

Thank goodness the people of Houston and beyond have heroes such as them.