TAMPA, Fla. — Impending destruction from Hurricane Milton has become too much to bear, even for the people most adamantly against evacuations.
One such Tampa resident, nicknamed "Lieutenant Dan" in reference to the Forest Gump character who fictitiously survived a hurricane on a boat, recently went viral on TikTok. He originally claimed, just a day before Milton was expected to make landfall, that he would ride out the storm inside his houseboat.
The man has allegedly changed his mind in the day since the video was taken, according to Tampa Mayor Jane Castor.
"The Tampa Police Department, this morning, just saved Lieutenant Dan," Castor said at a press conference Wednesday. "He has been rescued, and he is now in a shelter as well. If we can get Lieutenant Dan to go to a shelter, we can get anybody to do that."
Castor pleaded with the public to evacuate to a shelter and not attempt to stay in their homes ahead of Hurricane Milton's landfall Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
Milton is expected to bring much more storm surge and flooding to Tampa than even record-breaking Hurricane Helene did just two weeks earlier.
"Any of you who went through Hurricane Helene, that was 4 to 6 feet of storm surge, and that was more devastation than I've seen in my life. Milton has the possibility of bringing twice as much storm surge here, from 12 to 15 feet. That is something that's historical, not only for our community, but really for our nation," Castor said.
See the original viral post of Lt. Dan here, before he evacuated: