Matthew Heller, the Florida man who became an internet sensation during Hurricane Helene with his viral videos of him kayaking in his flooded living room, plans to ride out Hurricane Milton all the same.
Speaking with Fox News, Heller said he will be hunkering down at his house out of independence.
“Some of my neighbors have smaller children. For me, it’s just me. My house is my livelihood, so I plan on hunkering down. But I have seen other folks leave,” he said.
Heller further described the situation in his area as “total pandemonium” as he described filling up his car for gas.
“I wanted to fill up my tank. I had about half a tank and just want to top it off … it took 10 stations,” he said. “They all have plastic over the pumps, and once I found an open station … folks [were] not lining up properly in queue people screaming, honking the horn. And the storm hasn’t even got here yet. So terrifying.”
Speaking with CNN, Heller said that he has been “watching the weather close” and that he has been experiencing hurricane emergencies for 42 years.
“It’s such a slow moving system, better safe than sorry, but this is where I have to be,” he said. “I’m hoping for the best.”
Heller admitted that his mother expressed “alarm” over his decision to stay.
During Hurricane Helene, which recently ravaged Florida and other parts of the Sun Belt, most especially North Carolina, Heller became a viral sensation when he posted several videos of him kayaking in his flooded living room.
@mattfromhornblasters.com Hurricane Helen Tampa Florida Matt Heller from Hornblasters.com house flooding
“I’ve been recovering all week, removing drywall, and then the entire downstairs, my house was decimated. That’s all sitting at the curb now. The city of Tampa told us to leave it unbagged. So I have all this loose construction debris. My big concern is that debris clogging any kind of drainage systems and causing more problems or becoming missiles and or projectiles and damaging other property and things,” said Heller.
Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida on Wednesday night as a category 3. Officials strongly advised residents to evacuate while they could before the storm hit, with one police chief even going as far to say that people who remain where they stand should write their names on their bodies so authorities can identify them.
“You might as well take a Sharpie and write your name and Social Security number on your leg so that when we find you, we have a contact … Because you staying out here is not going to work,” Holmes Beach Police Department Chief Bill Tokajer told CNN’s Paul Murphy on Tuesday.