CLEARWATER BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) – A Florida man pulled out his camera to record what he thought was going to be his final moments as the floodwaters from Hurricane Helene began to carry him away. Tim Cook said it was the craziest and most terrifying night of his life when Helene made landfall. It ended with him on the roof of his Clearwater Beach home. But his night did not start off that way. The day before Helene made landfall, Tim’s family evacuated to a safer area, and he stayed behind to mitigate any damage. “That was probably the dumbest thing I ever did in my life,” said Tim. “We’ve been lulled into complacency the last couple of years with all these storms.” He said the water began creeping up slowly, but then there was a rush. “The water started coming in the house super, super fast, and the whole area over here looked like a rapids river,” said Tim. The homeowner shut down the home’s electricity and put life vests on his two dogs. He then climbed with the animals to the roof as the wind whipped around them. Video recorded by Tim captures the frightened man as he watched the water rise. He said he believed it was the beginning of the end for him and his two dogs, so he recorded a heartfelt goodbye message to his wife. “I hope I make it. If I don’t, I love you,” said Tim. As he finished recording, as if fate had heard him, a boat that he had anchored to the ground began floating to the corner of the roof. Tim saw that as a lifeboat to escape. “And the dogs and I walked off the roof and just stepped onto the boat, and then we sat on the boat for about three hours until the water started coming down,” he said. From the boat, Tim said, he watched a neighbor’s home erupt in flames in a surreal scene. “I hear ‘pop, pop, pop, pop,’ and I turned my head, and the flames were as high as that three-story house right there,” he said. Tim began to meditate on the boat to stay calm as chaos swirled around him. Eventually, the floodwaters lowered, and he got off the boat to a home ravaged by Helene. “I think I was in shock for like two days after, and just kind of traumatized,” said Tim. Together, the family is clearing out the wreckage, as they work hard to reclaim the house that Helene tried to take. “This is going to make us so much stronger. This is your life, like, his is our entire life, but it’s OK. We’ll get there, we’re healthy,” said Christina, Tim’s wife. They are among hundreds in North Clearwater Beach who have lost nearly everything they own. Some people don’t even have a home to come back to. “We need the help, we all need the help. It’s insane,” said Christina. But after a night on the roof, Tim said they have everything that really counts. “This isn’t our life. This, this is our life,” said Tim as he pointed to him and his wife. “We don’t care, we just need help lifting it out and cleaning up the house.” If you would like to help families in need, there are several donation locations throughout South Florida. Click here to view them.