Never wake a sleeping child, especially an infant tucked in a plastic tub to guard him from drowning in the craze of Hurricane Ian.
And while 3-month-old Charlie may not know today what his parents overcame to save lots of his life that frightening afternoon on Sept. 28, his mother’s account of the cataclysmic storm will haunt the Fort Myers, Florida, family eternally.
Callie Brown remembers as Ian barreled ashore; it was just the winds at first.
As a tree of their front yard crashed, strong winds ripped their backyard lanai out of the inspiration, catapulting it into their neighbor’s yard.
Brown could only think this was the worst of the storm, but that’s when the water began to flow inside her home.
Refuge within the attic
“We noticed it by the back slider doors at first, and it appeared like it was a slow creep,” she said. “Inside 10 minutes, it was probably 2 feet deep.”
The family debated jumping of their automobile to flee but quickly realized it was too late by the point they got Charlie able to go.
“(People) don’t understand what it takes to evacuate,” Brown said. “Especially if you happen to don’t live in an area where there are hurricanes.”
Brown said they were told the storm was going to Tampa, and it only modified tracks 24 hours before it made landfall.
“By that point, the roads were gridlocked, and there was no gas. It wasn’t so simple as packing up the automobile and happening a bit road trip,” she said.
As water began to rise outside the Browns’ home, the couple couldn’t even open their garage door.
“The water pressure outside was so strong, and there was already a river taking place our street,” she said.
Taking to higher ground, they climbed into their attic as Brown’s husband began to grab anything he could recuperate quickly. Yet, Charlie’s needs got here first, his mom said.
They grabbed his clothes, formula, bottles – whatever they may find of his was snatched up as they packed themselves into the attic where they sat, fearing the worst for the subsequent quarter-hour as they watched the water proceed to rise below them.
Brown said they didn’t know when the water was going to stop. The one thing she knew on the time was that it was rising in a short time.
“It got almost to the highest of my automobile, which was within the garage,” she recalled. “And at that time, you understand, I just remember saying, ‘It’s still coming. It’s still coming. I don’t need to die. I don’t need to die.’”
Brown was scared the water would soon reach the attic, so the brand new mother made the split decision that will ultimately save not only her life but her son’s and husband’s lives too.
“If we were going to flee the home, we needed to do it right then and there,” she recalled.
Saving Charlie (and Tucker, the cat)
After scouring the attic, the couple dumped some Tupperware bins crammed with old holiday decorations.
“We put Charlie in one in every of them,” his mom said. “We put him in his automobile seat within the clear storage bin. And we had our cat, Tucker, who was in a backpack. We put him in the opposite one. We climbed down the ladder from the attic, and we swam through our house to the front door and went out.”
When the Browns got to the tip of their driveway, they realized they didn’t have any control over the direction they were going. The present immediately sucked them to the best.
As they floated by their neighbor’s home, they noticed them sitting in kayaks and holding on to the side of their house.
Brown remembers screaming at them.
“Are you okay?” she yelled. “And after all, their answer was, ‘no.’”
Their neighbors shouted back to the Browns.
“Are you OK?” they said.
“And we shouted, ‘no,’ as we just got sucked down the road,” said Brown as they were kicking and holding on for dear life to one another and the Tupperware bins.
The water ended up pulling the family up into an RV camper three houses down. As they caught their breaths, they were in a position to maneuver themselves across the back of the home where they noticed a partially submerged two-level lanai.
The homeowners allowed them into their house which, thankfully, never flooded and offered them to hunt refuge there for the night.
‘This can stick with me for the remainder of my life’
Looking back on the nightmare, Brown said she didn’t think they’d make it out of her flooded home alive, let alone being clueless about where the storm surge would take them.
“Once we were floating down the road, my adrenaline was so high,” she said. “All I could think was don’t let this Tupperware turn over. Don’t let baby Charlie fall out of this bin,” she said. “I used to be also just considering, ‘Where is that this water taking us to? Are we going out to the ocean?’”
Surviving Hurricane Ian and living to inform the harrowing accounts to save lots of her family’s life takes every little thing to an entire latest level, Brown said.
“It’s one thing once you’re fending for yourself. It’s one thing when you understand you’re liable for the lifetime of an innocent baby who can’t fend for himself who can’t do anything,” she said.
In spite of everything, Charlie’s needs got here first, even when Ian had other intentions.
“I didn’t care about me,” Brown said. “I wasn’t desirous about me. I used to be desirous about protecting him.”
And for future storms on the horizon, Brown said she isn’t staying again for one more hurricane – whether it’s a Category 1 or a Category 5.
“I will certainly all the time heed the warnings moving forward,” she said. “I will certainly never stay for a hurricane again. This can stick with me for the remainder of my life.”
The Browns lost every little thing they owned following Hurricane Ian. They’ve an extended road ahead of them, but they’re all protected, which matters most. An internet fundraising campaign has been began to help the family. Brown said all the cash donated is not going to only help them get on their feet, but they hope to pay it forward in the event that they have enough to assist others. Click here to learn more and donate.
Never wake a sleeping child, especially an infant tucked in a plastic tub to guard him from drowning in the craze of Hurricane Ian.
And while 3-month-old Charlie may not know today what his parents overcame to save lots of his life that frightening afternoon on Sept. 28, his mother’s account of the cataclysmic storm will haunt the Fort Myers, Florida, family eternally.
Callie Brown remembers as Ian barreled ashore; it was just the winds at first.
As a tree of their front yard crashed, strong winds ripped their backyard lanai out of the inspiration, catapulting it into their neighbor’s yard.
Brown could only think this was the worst of the storm, but that’s when the water began to flow inside her home.
Refuge within the attic
“We noticed it by the back slider doors at first, and it appeared like it was a slow creep,” she said. “Inside 10 minutes, it was probably 2 feet deep.”
The family debated jumping of their automobile to flee but quickly realized it was too late by the point they got Charlie able to go.
“(People) don’t understand what it takes to evacuate,” Brown said. “Especially if you happen to don’t live in an area where there are hurricanes.”
Brown said they were told the storm was going to Tampa, and it only modified tracks 24 hours before it made landfall.
“By that point, the roads were gridlocked, and there was no gas. It wasn’t so simple as packing up the automobile and happening a bit road trip,” she said.
As water began to rise outside the Browns’ home, the couple couldn’t even open their garage door.
“The water pressure outside was so strong, and there was already a river taking place our street,” she said.
Taking to higher ground, they climbed into their attic as Brown’s husband began to grab anything he could recuperate quickly. Yet, Charlie’s needs got here first, his mom said.
They grabbed his clothes, formula, bottles – whatever they may find of his was snatched up as they packed themselves into the attic where they sat, fearing the worst for the subsequent quarter-hour as they watched the water proceed to rise below them.
Brown said they didn’t know when the water was going to stop. The one thing she knew on the time was that it was rising in a short time.
“It got almost to the highest of my automobile, which was within the garage,” she recalled. “And at that time, you understand, I just remember saying, ‘It’s still coming. It’s still coming. I don’t need to die. I don’t need to die.’”
Brown was scared the water would soon reach the attic, so the brand new mother made the split decision that will ultimately save not only her life but her son’s and husband’s lives too.
“If we were going to flee the home, we needed to do it right then and there,” she recalled.
Saving Charlie (and Tucker, the cat)
After scouring the attic, the couple dumped some Tupperware bins crammed with old holiday decorations.
“We put Charlie in one in every of them,” his mom said. “We put him in his automobile seat within the clear storage bin. And we had our cat, Tucker, who was in a backpack. We put him in the opposite one. We climbed down the ladder from the attic, and we swam through our house to the front door and went out.”
When the Browns got to the tip of their driveway, they realized they didn’t have any control over the direction they were going. The present immediately sucked them to the best.
As they floated by their neighbor’s home, they noticed them sitting in kayaks and holding on to the side of their house.
Brown remembers screaming at them.
“Are you okay?” she yelled. “And after all, their answer was, ‘no.’”
Their neighbors shouted back to the Browns.
“Are you OK?” they said.
“And we shouted, ‘no,’ as we just got sucked down the road,” said Brown as they were kicking and holding on for dear life to one another and the Tupperware bins.
The water ended up pulling the family up into an RV camper three houses down. As they caught their breaths, they were in a position to maneuver themselves across the back of the home where they noticed a partially submerged two-level lanai.
The homeowners allowed them into their house which, thankfully, never flooded and offered them to hunt refuge there for the night.
‘This can stick with me for the remainder of my life’
Looking back on the nightmare, Brown said she didn’t think they’d make it out of her flooded home alive, let alone being clueless about where the storm surge would take them.
“Once we were floating down the road, my adrenaline was so high,” she said. “All I could think was don’t let this Tupperware turn over. Don’t let baby Charlie fall out of this bin,” she said. “I used to be also just considering, ‘Where is that this water taking us to? Are we going out to the ocean?’”
Surviving Hurricane Ian and living to inform the harrowing accounts to save lots of her family’s life takes every little thing to an entire latest level, Brown said.
“It’s one thing once you’re fending for yourself. It’s one thing when you understand you’re liable for the lifetime of an innocent baby who can’t fend for himself who can’t do anything,” she said.
In spite of everything, Charlie’s needs got here first, even when Ian had other intentions.
“I didn’t care about me,” Brown said. “I wasn’t desirous about me. I used to be desirous about protecting him.”
And for future storms on the horizon, Brown said she isn’t staying again for one more hurricane – whether it’s a Category 1 or a Category 5.
“I will certainly all the time heed the warnings moving forward,” she said. “I will certainly never stay for a hurricane again. This can stick with me for the remainder of my life.”
The Browns lost every little thing they owned following Hurricane Ian. They’ve an extended road ahead of them, but they’re all protected, which matters most. An internet fundraising campaign has been began to help the family. Brown said all the cash donated is not going to only help them get on their feet, but they hope to pay it forward in the event that they have enough to assist others. Click here to learn more and donate.
