Influencer Caroline Calloway Won’t Evacuate Florida Home Ahead of Hurricane Milton
Lieutenant Dan isn’t leaving his boat behind.
With nearly 100,000 Floridians spending the night in shelters across the state amid Hurricane Milton‘s destruction, Joseph Malinowski wasn’t interested in riding out the storm inside.
The 54-year-old captivated TikTok and concerned Tampa officials with his decision to stay in his boat for the storm that eventually slammed the area. As social media fans waited with bated breath to see if Joseph made it through the hurricane safely, he gave an update under his Oct. 9 TikTok.
“I’m alive, woowoo,” he commented after the storm. “God is good.”
But who is the eccentric man who refused to heed advice from officials? Joseph’s nickname refers to Forrest Gump veteran amputee Lt. Dan (Gary Sinise), whose shrimp boat was the only vessel to survive Hurricane Carmen in the film.
The name was given by University of Tampa student Terrence Concannon, who crossed paths with Joseph in mid-September after helping him pull his boat back to safety when it began drifting to sea. The senior ultimately began documenting his journey living on the boat.