Florida man refuses to leave boat as Ian approaches

(NewsNation) — Mandatory evacuations set in place by officials have urged residents to evacuate before Hurricane Ian makes landfall Wednesday. But one Fort Myers man named Bob isn’t leaving. In fact, he’s hunkering down on his boat.

“It’s supposed to be a little worse than most of the other ones as far as that’s concerned. But you know, it’s wind and water. If you know what we’re doing. We’re all set,” Bob told NewsNation’s senior correspondent Brian Entin.

Bob actually lives on his boat, and many of his boating neighbors are also riding out the storm in their boats.

But one thing Bob and the others have to worry about are the storm surges that Hurricane Ian will bring. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is predicting storm surge up to 18 feet above ground level, but Bob said he isn’t too worried that it will affect him.

“It’s possible. But you know, we’re 14 miles up from the Gulf. There’s a lot of land for that water to spread out on before it gets here. I mean, like I said, I’ve seen the docks covered before, but I don’t expect it to get to any point. Everybody’s ready,” Bob said.

Entin checked up on Bob for a second interview to see if he had changed his mind about going up to shore before the storm officially hits landfall.

But Bob said he is staying true and doubling down on his decision to ride the storm out on his boat.

“I’m not overly concerned. You know, this storm surge, the boat floats, you know, move up, it’ll move down. I have people that are in areas low-lying when the water comes in, and they get flooded. That’s a problem,” Bob said.

Bob insisted that by the time the storm surges reach him, they will dissipate and that he doesn’t expect it will hit 18 feet by him.