Florida’s viral ‘Lieutenant Dan’ SURVIVES Hurricane Milton after refusing to flee as vid shows storm battering his boat
FLORIDA'S viral sailor who rode out Hurricane Milton has survived the horror storm after refusing to leave his boat.
Joseph Malinowski, dubbed "Lieutenant Dan", became an internet sensation after vowing to stay in the yacht no matter how dangerous.
As Hurricane Milton barrelled across the Gulf of Mexico some thought the 54-year-old was set for certain death.
Authorities told people looking to ride out the storm to write their names on their arms so their body could be identified.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor claimed Tampa police “saved Lieutenant Dan” and had got him off the boat.
But Malinowski actually spent the night in his "home" and has survived the deadly storm new footage reveals.
Read more on US news
The one-legged man posted a clip to TikTok during the night saying what he was facing was "not a problem."
A NewsNation journalist went to visit Dan after the worst of the storm to find he out if he had survived.
He called out to Malinowski a few times before the renegade popped his head out the top of the yacht.
Malinowski shouted back from the boat: "I'm doing fine."
But despite him making it through the night, Malinowski revealed he was stuck on his yacht and couldn't get off.
The tide had gone out and now his boat was too far away from the shore for him to leave.
He was able to survive after tying his yacht to the wharf in several places.
One clip taken through the night showed the vessel being thrown around by the waves.
Malinowski said he didn't want to leave as the boat was everything he owned.
He told Sky News before the storm: "I'm gonna be fine.
"Plan is to sit down and hunker down.
"I'm gonna be fine. This is a boat. It's meant to be on water.
"The water's going to surge, it's not a tsunami."
Joe earned his nickname Lieutenant Dan after he went viral on TikTok and was compared to the character from Forrest Gump who famously stayed on his boat during a rough storm.
The catastrophic storm has already claimed lives as dawn breaks in Florida and winds and flooding abound.
Devastating flash flooding is causing chaos in the Tampa Bay area, with up to 16 inches of rainfall so far.
It comes as...
- Hurricane Milton, with 120mph winds & 15-foot storm surge waves, made a direct hit on Florida.
- Two large tornadoes were filmed crossing Interstate 75 in the Florida Everglades at around 10 a.m. local time on Wednesday
- Heartstopping moment fearless boffins are battered by Milton as they fly into the eye of the storm.
- ‘Price-gouging’ hotels slammed for charging Hurricane Milton evacuees $600 per night.
- Publix was forced to alter store hours at 500 locations and close some shops entirely.
- Watch the moment sick passengers are airlifted off a stranded cruise ship.
More than three million homes and businesses have been left without power.
And at least 125 homes have been destroyed after Tampa Mayor Jane Castor's grim warning houses would be turned into "coffins".
Milton has sparked 126 tornado warnings in Florida - the most ever in a single day.
Millions of terrified residents have fled the state after President Joe Biden warned Milton would be "one of the most destructive hurricanes of the century".
Authorities warned the force and destruction Hurricane Milton could bring could be catastrophic for many communities that are in the path of the storm.
In just two days the hurricane went from a tropical storm with 40mph winds to a Category 5 storm with gusts said to be over 200mph.
The entire roof of the Tropicana Field's stadium was ripped off as it suffered the wrath of the hurricane.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Shocking footage shows the roof being torn apart by ferocious winds.
The stadium - home to the Tampa Bay Rays - was being used as a base for thousands of emergency workers who set up camp there ahead of the hurricane.
What is a hurricane and how do they form?
A HURRICANE is another name for a tropical cyclone - a powerful storm that forms over warm ocean waters near the equator.
Those arising in the Atlantic or eastern Pacific are called hurricanes, while those in the western Pacific and Indian Ocean are dubbed typhoons or cyclones.
North of the equator they spin anticlockwise because of the rotation of the Earth, however, they turn the opposite way in the southern hemisphere.
Cyclones are like giant weather engines fuelled by water vapor as it evaporates from the sea.
Warm, moist air rises away from the surface, creating a low-pressure system that sucks in air from surrounding areas - which in turn is warmed by the ocean.
As the vapour rises it cools and condenses into swirling bands of cumulonimbus storm clouds.
The system grows and spins faster, sucking in more air and feeding off the energy in seawater that has been warmed by the sun.
At the center, a calm "eye" of the storm is created where cooled air sinks towards the ultra-low pressure zone below, surrounded by spiraling winds of warm air rising.
The faster the wind, the lower the air pressure at the center, and the storm grows stronger and stronger.
Tropical cyclones usually weaken when they hit land as they are no longer fed by evaporation from the warm sea.
But they often move far inland - dumping vast amounts of rain and causing devastating wind damage - before the "fuel" runs out and the storm peters out.
Hurricanes can also cause storm surges when the low air pressure sucks the sea level higher than normal, swamping low-lying coasts.