OXFORD, N.J. (PIX11) — A New Jersey native is being hailed a hero for helping to rescue more than 100 people during the deadly flash floods in Kerr County, Texas.

The Department of Homeland Security posted on “X” that “During the first rescue mission of his career, Rescue Swimmer Scott Ruskan directly saved 165 individuals.” Ruskan, who is 26 years old, joined the U.S. Coast Guard in 2021.

Ruskan is from Oxford, New Jersey, and attended Rider University. Ruskan’s former Cross Country Track and Field Coach, Bob Hamer, tells affiliate WPIX that Ruskan “is a really good person and I hope that also comes through in how he was able to help all those young girls.” Hamer, who is friends with Ruskan, says he spoke to Ruskan directly about the rescue mission on July 4th at Camp Mystic.

Hamer said Ruskan’s “sole job was to gather as many of the kids as he could. Some of them, he had to carry across difficult rocks and terrain, some of them didn’t have shoes, they were just in stuff they might have been sleeping in.”

Hamer added “I think it was a bit emotional because he had to be a compassionate human being at that moment in time, those young girls and other people at camp were terrified and scared and had and he was doing everything he could to comfort them and sooth them and give them hope they were going to be rescued.”

More than 100 people are now confirmed dead in the flash floods that struck Kerr County, Texas, on July 4th.