Posted on 10/25/2022 2:12:41 PM PDT by MtnClimber
FORT MYERS, Fla. - When Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida on Sept. 28, Robert Long rode out the Category 4 hurricane in a dinghy hooked up to his pickup truck.
He spent more than 2 hours inside the small boat being battered by ferocious winds and stinging rain as floodwaters rose.
Long said he watched the weather radar leading up to the storm, but that he was caught off-guard by how powerful Ian would be.
"I figured I was going to lose power, maybe get a small branch through the roof of my house," he said. "I had no intentions of moving until I saw the water coming up and knew that that was a real problem at that point."
When evaluating his options, he noted how a neighbor across the street was trapped in her home, with floodwaters rising nearly up to her roof.
"So, I knew being trapped indoors wasn't an option," Long said. "I took the least of the evils – I grabbed the boat, and I went to the highest part of the property that I knew there was a fixed object that I could anchor to."
That object was his pickup truck, which kept Long from drifting off, especially as he had no paddles in the dinghy.
Long said that he was also worried about shielding himself from wind-driven debris from a nearby trailer park that was flying around.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Someone always loses a trailer.
Florida Man is resourceful, and never chooses the path of least resistance.
Ride it out in something that floats vs something that doesn’t makes good sense to me. He should make a little shrine for that rope.
Not sure this one can be graded. This is a GOOD Florida Man story, in which Florida Man survived by his wits and his head. I suppose he could get an A for originality, but an D* for not getting the heck outta there before Ian hit.
*Would be an F, but it’s hard to know precisely where these destructive swirly thingies will come ashore.
I went through that storm, but in Central Florida. The wind was deafening for about 8 hours. I can’t even imagine riding it out in a dinghy.
It was a GOOD Florida Man story, but it still had a truck and trailers being blown apart.
OK - need details
What brand and model of the PU truck?
Hybrid? Diesel? What color?
Big advertising opportunity for some truck dealer . . .
“Long said he watched the weather radar leading up to the storm, but that he was caught off-guard by how powerful Ian would be.”
Not too smart. The whole world knew how powerful that storm was days in advance. The exact track of course is never known but he should have known he was at risk of being hit by a powerful hurricane.
I suppose he fared better than the neighbor across the street?
Sigh... good times.
A man and his dinghy vs nature. Inspiring.
A man and his dinghy vs nature. Inspiring.
BUT,....gotta ask...., was there BEER?
Maybe a B on creativity. A friend of mine survived Katrina the same way. All the was left of the house was a slab.
We know that the man’s pickup wasn’t electric or he would have burned to death.
p
Damn straight, it’s Florida.
I’m surprised he wasn’t high on meth and naked...
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