Joseph Malinowski, who is affectionately known as Lieutenant Dan by locals, had vowed to stay on his boat as the storm hit despite pleading from local authorities
Known as Tampa’s Lt. Dan, Jay is hunkering down in his house boat, refusing to leave even as Hurricane Milton bears down on Florida
The Florida man who said he would weather Hurricane Milton in his boat in Tampa Bay reportedly agreed to be evacuated at the last minute as the deadly storm barrelled towards him.
Joseph Malinowski, who goes by Jay, had pledged to stay with his boat despite warnings from authorities ‘if you stay you die,’ because his boat engine was broken so he couldn’t move it. But on Wednesday, TMZ reported that a Tampa Police spokesperson confirmed that Malinowski has agreed to leave.
It is unclear if he did end up evacuating with conflicting reports suggesting he stayed to weather the storm. Tampa Bay mayor Jane Castor meanwhile claimed police “just saved Lieutenant Dan” at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
He is nicknamed Lieutenant Dan, after the amputee from blockbuster film Forrest Gump who rides out a storm. “I know that God didn’t bring me this far for something to happen to me,” Jay said in a video of an interview with the Weather Channel. He previously weathered the Hurricane Helene which hit the state at the end of September.
Police even tried to talk him into leaving (
terrenceconcannon/TikTok)
“The more you go through it, the more you learn,” Jay told the reporter. “I’m confident in my ability to ride it out unless it turns into a Wizard of Oz-type situation, and I wind up in Kansas.” At the end of the interview he told the reporter: “I’ll be here. I’ll see you Friday.”
More than 2.6 million homes and businesses are without power as Hurricane Milton spun across central Florida, according to the website PowerOutages.us.
Jay is an amputee (
terrenceconcannon/TikTok)
