As Hurricane Helene’s storm surge transformed his house into a soggy crisis zone, a Florida man took an unexpected approach to survival. Matt Heller, from Tampa, was caught on camera sailing through his flooded living space in a yacht meant for crises, according to the New York Post.
In a TikTok video that quickly went viral, Heller captured the moment the waterways started pouring into his house. Hurricane Helene’s wind surge” came out of nowhere,” quickly rising 4 ft inside his home.
Heller told CNN,” The paddle was my avoid plan in case things got very hairy.” ” I did n’t think I was gonna need it in my living room”.
” All of a sudden the storm just kind of came in and]the waters ] been rising and rising”, he said. It rose about four legs from nothing in about an hour and a half, the author says.
Heller’s house still had authority as he paddled through the rising lakes, but later, he was forced to rely on light as light failed.
As Heller paddled through his life room, he said,” This is definitely the biggest storm we’ve ever had”.
Tampa Bay saw record-breaking wind storms. Authorities warned people that storms between 5 and 8 feet were feasible in some areas, with officials announcing as high as 7 ft. Tampa General Hospital, located on Davis Islands, installed a 15-foot water- challenge to fight the rising waters.
Hurricane Helene made land in Florida’s Big Bend region late on Thursday as a Category 4 wind, according to the US National Hurricane Center. The wind has claimed at least three lives and left millions without electricity. As it crossed into Georgia, Helene was afterwards downgraded to a Category 2 wind, causing substantial damage to everything in its path.
