An elderly couple have refused to evacuate their Florida home amid Hurricane Helene after falling in love during the devastating wrath 2022's Hurricane Ian.
Michele Vikartofsky and Larry Leventhal stayed home as Category 5 storm Ian slammed into the Sunshine State, killing 161. However, despite urgent warnings to leave their homes at the time - they both stuck it out - saying they met and fell in love because they were "both crazy people that stayed".
Living on Sanibel Island in Florida, authorities warned all residents to evacuate ahead of Helene making landfall , however love-stuck couple have once again stuck to old habits - taking the laid-back approach as they told NBC news "yolo" - an acronym of 'you only live once' - when questioned on why they opted to stay home. Helene has so far killed at least 40 people.
READ MORE: Helicopters rescue dozens of stranded patients from flooded Tennessee hospital swamped by Hurricane Helene
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This time, Larry and Michelle analysed they situation, saying Helen was not expected to bring about the same destruction witnessed across the state during Hurricane Ian - which swept away both their cars in 2022. This time round, Michelle said: "We lost power, but it's not as bad as Ian was - But it's still worse than we thought it was going to be."
The island has been struck my numerous hurricanes and tropical storms, by Larry insisted their life there was "paradise 99% of the time". Elsewhere, desperate crowds at a hospital in Tennessee were hoping for an urgent evacuation after patients and staff were forced to scramble to the roof amid rising floodwater.
They tried to move people to the center of the building, but they were met by water.
Once rescue boats arrived, the water was so dangerous they couldn’t leave. Ultimately, dozens of staff and patients went to the roof to wait to be taken to safety, and a few others stayed in rescue boats, as winds whipped and brown waters gushed nearby with debris beneath them.
Within a few hours, they were all rescued.
The dramatic scene at Unicoi County Hospital, in Erwin, Tennessee, near the North Carolina border, was one of several that played out across the southern U.S. in Helene’s wake. Flooding caused by its storm surge and rain sent thousands of police officers, firefighters, National Guard members and others on rescue missions. Hundreds were saved, but at least 40 died.
“It was just the grace of God we had ample amount of people to move people up to the roof,” Jennifer Harrah, the Tennessee hospital’s administrator, told WJHL-TV . “And we were able to put the non-ambulatory patients in the boats and keep them safe and have medical personnel with the patients in the boats as well. And we kind of had them in a corner, protected by a couple of walls.”
Unicoi County Hospital tried to evacuate 11 patients and 43 others Friday morning after the Nolichucky River overflowed its banks and flooded the facility, but the water was too treacherous for boats sent by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.
The decision was made to direct more than 50 people to the roof. Another seven had been temporarily stuck in rescue boats. Ballad Health, which operates the small 10-bed hospital, asked for people’s prayers as it provided the social media update.
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