A Fort Myers couple needed to abandon their flooded residence and swim to their neighbors’ home throughout Hurricane Ian — and used plastic storage tubs as makeshift rafts to drift their 3-month-old son and their cat to security.
Callie Brown and Chad Duckwall determined to shelter in place as a result of they thought the storm was heading towards Tampa.
“It shows how unpredictable the track was. We expected it to be so much further north of us,” Duckwall stated.
They thought they have been going to be OK because the winds raged round them final Wednesday, however then noticed water seeping in beneath their door.
“I mean right away we knew we are in trouble, because it was a matter of minutes that it went from an inch of water on our house floors to two feet. It was very fast,” Brown stated.
As the water rose, they grabbed all the pieces they might carry – principally issues that child Charlie would wish — and shifted to the attic.
Duckwall stated he introduced some instruments and his chainsaw in case they wanted to chop via the roof.
The water was 4 or 5 ft deep inside half-hour and reached the highest of Brown’s SUV, which was parked in the storage and which they might see from the attic.
Charlie was sleeping in his automobile seat throughout this a part of their ordeal and Tucker, the cat, was in a mesh backpack.
They weren’t positive how excessive the water would get and a buddy known as and stated neighbors have been in a position to get to a close-by home on increased floor.
They determined to swim for it.
The plastic bins held the household’s Christmas ornaments and have been sufficiently big to carry Charlie and his automobile seat after they have been emptied out. Brown coated Charlie with a child blanket to guard him from the wind and rain.
Brown stated the water was over her head as they swam and the present pushed them away from the house they have been aiming for.
“It happened so fast and I think our adrenaline and just like survival kind of instinct kicked in. It was scary,” she stated. “Once we got out our front door, the current was so strong, we didn’t really have a choice on where we were going.”
They solely went just a few homes down the road, however it felt like eternally.
“We had our baby Charlie in a storage bin, a Tupperware bin, we had the cat and another one and we were just holding onto each other and holding onto those bins and just kicking as hard as we could.”
They wound up in a neighbor’s yard close to and have been in a position to go up the steps to the second stage of their porch, which was nonetheless just a few inches above the water.
Duckwall punched a gap in the display so they might get into the porch.
Brian Yount was inside the home together with his spouse and twin daughters and was shocked to listen to a person’s voice outdoors.
“You know, they had a 3-month-old in one bin and a cat in the other bin. It was just wild.”
Yount and his household had simply moved to the world from Colorado, and he stated he’d met Duckwall that day. “I instantly recognized him and said ‘Holy cow, Chad, get inside you guys,” Yount stated.
Duckwall and Brown spent the evening there with the child and cat and three different neighbors who got here to the Yount’s home for shelter.
Duckwall and Brown stated Charlie was unfazed by the expertise.
“When we actually floated down the road he was awake but he never cried. He just kind of looked around, you know, a little kind of wide-eyed like ‘What is happening, Mom. What’s happening, Dad? What are we doing?’”
Tucker the cat was much less completely satisfied about getting so moist.
“He spent the next 24 hours licking himself and mad at us,” Brown stated. “But he’s alive.”
CNN’s Hayley Wilson and Toby Lyles contributed to this story.