Tampa's "Lt. Dan", a man refusing to follow evacuation orders while intending to ride out Hurricane Milton on his boat, survived the storm unscathed.
Joseph Malinowski, who has been nicknamed "Lieutenant Dan" after a character from the 1994 movie Forrest Gump, concerned users on social media after announcing that he would not be evacuating ahead of Hurricane Milton's arrival in Florida.
"I'm not going anywhere because the safest place to be is on a boat in a flood," said Malinowski. "We learned that with Noah. Everyone who stayed on land drowned. Noah and the animals lived."
He ignored numerous offers of help and requests for him to evacuate, including those directly from Tampa police Chief Lee Bercaw, who visited him before Milton was set to make landfall.
"You're all robots," Malinowski said of those evacuating. "You're all sheep, following the masses."
Fox13's Kevin O'Donnell posted a clip to X (formerly Twitter) sharing an update regarding Malinowski's wellbeing.
""Lieutenant Dan" UPDATE : He survived to talk about his wild night riding out Hurricane Milton on his 20 ft sailboat," he wrote.
"Lieutenant Dan" UPDATE : He survived to talk about his wild night riding out Hurricane Milton on his 20 ft sailboat. #LieutenantDan #HurricaneMilton pic.twitter.com/Ao6pkf0q2I
— Kevin ODonnell Fox13🟦 (@ODonnellFox13) October 10, 2024
"It was a little rough till about 11:30 p.m. I repositioned the boat and I was heading into the wind, and I slept like a baby from 12:30 to 5 o'clock this morning," said Malinowski after riding out Milton from his boat. "I woke up twice to pee, that was it. Other than that, I think it's been a great night."
Lieutenant Dan post hurricane milton Flordia pic.twitter.com/2IXm5ptDKU
— V3T1XX (@Axoxxol) October 10, 2024
Malinowski gained widespread attention after being posted on Tik Tok by user Terrence Concannon, known on the app as "Tampa Terrence". Concannon posted updates about Malinowski as Hurricane Helene tore through Florida, with Malinowski once again riding out the storm from his boat.
"Other than a couple of scuff marks on the side, my boat's in better shape now than it was before, because it got washed," said Malinowksi on Tik Tok following Helene's landfall.
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