Featured Image Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Topics: Hurricane Milton, Viral, TikTok, US News
Jess Battison
Topics: Hurricane Milton, Viral, TikTok, US News
The man nicknamed ‘Lieutenant Dan’ has explained how he came to live on a boat as he emerges from surviving Hurricane Milton.
Quickly going viral, Joseph Malinowski is the stubborn sailor who refused to leave his boat in Tampa Bay as the dangerous storm pounded Florida this week.
As per CBS, there have been at least 16 deaths attributed to the storm with millions in the Sunshine State still without power following the severe weather.
Luckily, by yesterday afternoon (10 October), Milton was headed into the Atlantic Ocean as a post-tropical cyclone with winds of 75mph - just barely hurricane force.
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But while it was at its worst and people were encouraged to evacuate as others sought shelter, Malinowski decided to remain on his trusty sailboat - thankfully surviving.
Refusing to budge, he’d claimed ‘God told [him] to come out here and get a boat’ as he was sure he was in the safest place possible.
When reporters checked in with the 54-year-old yesterday morning following the worst of the storm, the bloke was pretty unfazed.
Despite his boat being repeatedly slammed against the harbour wall at points, he called it all ‘pretty mellow’.
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“I’m not scared of anything,” he told CBS News. Malinowski apparently remained calm during the dangerous situation and he credits his faith for that - something he lives by.
He explained how five years ago, he left Colorado and moved to Florida and believes God told him ‘to come here’.
"I've been in Florida for five years, stuck on the East Coast," the man said. "... I found this boat for 1,200 bucks. I bought it. I come to Tampa, and guess what? Can't flood, not today, not yesterday."
Earning the nickname ‘Lieutenant Dan’ from followers, his story went viral on TikTok as he explained the decision to stay on his beloved boat.
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“I put my faith in God. I don't put my faith in man," he explained. "God told me to come out here and get a boat. I came out here and got a boat. Everything he's been telling me the last few days, I'm doing the right thing. He got my back. I'm in good shape. I ain't sweating it."
Terrence Concannon, a University of Tampa student known online as ‘Tampa Terrence’, first shared Malinowski’s story online and created a fundraising campaign for the sailor to get him a new boat.
There is however some controversy due to the sailor’s lengthy criminal history. But Concannon says money will help go towards Malinowksi’s ‘everyday living expenses and his general livelihood’.