Wild Video Shows Florida Man Kayaking in Flooded Living Room

Wild video shows a Florida man paddling around his flooded living room in a kayak after Hurricane Helene’s devastating landfall on Thursday night, CNN reported.

Matt Heller, of Tampa Bay, intended to use the kayak as an “escape plan” if the hurricane got particularly nasty, but he found himself paddling around his flooded home after rising waters “came out of nowhere” and infiltrated the cracks in his walls. Heller can be seen in the home security footage paddling the vessel around his living room, which miraculously still has power.

“All of a sudden the storm just kind of came in and [the waters] been rising and rising,” Heller recalled. “It came out of nowhere, within probably an hour and a half it went up about four feet from nothing.”

Heller, the founder of the automotive and train horn company HornBlasters, said Helene initially rolled in “real slowly,” but the situation quickly turned severe. “The kayak was my escape plan in case stuff got too hairy, we could get out,” he told the outlet. “I didn’t think I was gonna need it in my living room…I was floating around, I was surprised the power stayed on for as long as it did,” he added.

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Hurricane Helen Tampa Florida Matt Heller from Hornblasters.com house flooding

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Though Tampa Bay wasn’t as hard hit as other Florida communities, the wind and storm surge from the hurricane pushed huge amounts of water up to his residence. “We’ve had an inch of water here or there but nothing like this,” he said. “This is definitely the biggest flood we’ve ever had,” he marveled.

Hurricane Helene made landfall at around 11 p.m. on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 storm. On Friday morning, the storm was downgraded to a Category 2 as it crossed into Georgia. To date, three people have lost their lives as a result of the hurricane.

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