Tampa’s viral ‘Lieutenant Dan’ nonetheless refusing to go away his boat forward of Hurricane Milton

One-legged Florida man Joseph Malinowski has gone viral for his refusal to evacuate earlier than Hurricane Milton.

Malinowski, who’s been nicknamed “Lieutenant Dan” — in a nod to Gary Sinise’s seafaring character in “Forrest Gump” — has mentioned he plans on remaining on his boat, likening himself to Noah and his ark.

“The most secure place to be in a flood is on a ship. We realized that with Noah. Everybody that stayed on land drowned,” Malinowski advised reporters after Tampa police persistently begged him to go away.

For everybody frightened about “Lieutenant Dan” – I simply talked to him. His actual title is Joseph Malinowski.
He says he’s going to remain on his sailboat within the Tampa Bay. pic.twitter.com/UJWE7EAazt

— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) October 9, 2024

Malinowski claims he’s following the directions his father used to provide him about surviving a hurricane: “If the tide goes up, I am going up. So long as the water stays out of the boat, I’ll be nice.”

The mariner mentioned he has religion that he’ll survive, and if he doesn’t, that’s God’s will.

“I’m not suicidal, however I’m placing it in God’s fingers and taking it out of mine and man’s,” he advised NewsNation reporter Brian Entin, peeking out from the duvet of his boat.

Regardless of the Tampa mayor claiming that Malinowski had been evacuated to a hospital, Entin subsequently reported the person was nonetheless on his boat.