Malinowski, who quickly became a star on social media, refused to leave his fishing boat, where he lives, despite the warnings for Hurricane Milton.
Feared to be among the strongest storms in the North Atlantic, the devastating weather event made landfall in Sarasota County last night, with 120 mph winds.
US officials had called for residents to evacuate or stay inside if they couldn’t. Dan, naturally, was doing neither of these things.
“I am here for God.
Joseph Malinowski said he was staying put for God (Sky News)
“He told me to be here so I am here.”
The reporter questioned whether he was anxious, as people have been told to evacuate the area for their own safety.
“I am in a boat, and there is water coming in, I am going to go up with the water and when the water goes out I am going to go down.
“As long as I keep the water out of the inside of my boat, I’ll be fine.”
Amazingly, Lieutenant Dan ended up being fine during the storm and hilariously said he’d ‘had more eventful nights’.
He did note that he lost his anchor during the storm, but said ‘actually this wasn’t as bad as Helene was. Helene was worse than that was’.
Before Milton hit, Malinowski confirmed that he had stayed in his boat during Storm Helene and was perfectly fine.
Joseph Malinowski joked he had more eventful nights before (Sky News)
He explained: “I did the same thing I am doing right now. The wind came out of the west right here and pushed me to the east, so I was over the water, and I just watched it go up.
“I went to sleep at 12:30, I woke up at 5 o’clock in the morning.
“I’m worried about [my boat] getting scratched up, that’s it, that is the worst that is going to happen.”
Speaking after Hurricane Milton, he said he wasn’t scared at any point during the storm, but said his boat did suffer some cosmetic damage, as the wind didn’t blow from the west as he anticipated, but from the east.
He did stay awake all night just to make sure if anything went wrong, he could quickly fix it, but ultimately concluded it ‘it was uneventful. It was nice. It was mellow’.
It’s not the guy’s first rodeo, either. Also known as Sea Joe, he was introduced to the video sharing app TikToker Terrence Concannon ahead of Storm Helene last month.
Terrence began documenting Dan’s life on his 20ft boat at Bayshore Boulevard before the storm wreaked havoc on the six states across the US, including parts of Florida.
Fortunately, Dan – real name Joseph Malinowski – survived, but he risked his life once again by staying put for Storm Milton.
Feared to be among the strongest storms in the North Atlantic, it made landfall in Sarasota County last night with 120 mph winds.
US officials had called for residents to evacuate, or stay inside if they couldn’t. Dan, naturally, was doing neither of these things.
Even police tried to convince ‘Lieutenant Dan’ to leave (@terrenceconcannon/TikTok)
Speaking in one video, he said ‘bring it on’ in regards to the severe storm warning.
Terrence himself had tried to convince Dan to go stay in a hotel until the storm has been and gone, but his efforts were in vain. Even the Chief of Tampa police has spoken to the seaman to try get him off the boat.
Now, Terrence has issued a highly-anticipated update on Dan’s fate.
In a TikTok video posted just before midnight last night, Terrence confirmed: “Dan is still alive guys!”
Inviting his followers to join him and others on streaming site Kick, he added: “Everyone get on… [Dan] is alive and he is buzzing.”
He also revealed Adin Ross had offered to buy Malinowski a new $100k boat.
Elsewhere, News Nation correspondent Brian Entin ventured out to Dan’s boat to check on the seafarer himself.
In a video posted to X, which has been viewed some 1.3 million times, Entin shouts out: “Lieutenant Dan! Are you OK? Are you OK?”
Dan’s head pops up from the boat’s cockpit as he responds to the reporter. The winds make it hard to understand what he’s saying, but he appears both unscathed and unbothered.
Dan fans were relieved to see he was ok. One person commented: “That’s the update everyone was hoping for, so happy to hear Lieutenant Dan is alright”.
A second laughed: “The man is an absolute meme popping out of the boat like that… Glad he’s safe”.
Elsewhere, he said that ‘God’ told him to get a boat.
“He’s got my back. I’m in good shape. I’m not sweating it,” he added.
A guy named Terrence Concannon first introduced the ‘real life Lieutenant Dan’ to the video sharing platform last month ahead of Hurricane Helen – a category two hurricane that wreaked havoc on parts of the US in recent weeks.
It’s presumed the man (who also goes by the name Joe Sea) earned the nickname as, like the Forrest Gump character, he is also missing a leg.
Terrence began documenting Joe’s life on his 20ft boat at Bayshore Boulevard before Hurricane Helene hit.
‘Lieutenant Dan’, also known as Joe Sea, is a viral sensation (GoFundMe)
Speaking in one video, he said ‘bring it on’ in regards to the severe storm warning.
Luckily, both Joe and his boat survived the hurricane, but now a bigger and stronger one known as Hurricane Milton is set to hit Florida today (October 9).
Terrence himself has tried to convince Joe to go stay in a hotel until the storm has been and gone, but his efforts were in vain.
Even the Chief of Tampa police has spoken to the seaman to try get him off the boat. However, as of yesterday (October 8), Joe was still set on staying put.
He’s convinced his boat is ‘the safest place to be’.
Even police have tried to convince ‘Lieutenant Dan’ leave (TikTok/@terrenceconcannon)
Joe explained: “The water’s going to come in, it’s going to rise. If you’re on land, it’s going to flood. You’re risking drowning. I’m in a boat, so the boat goes up with the water… it’s really the safest place to be, on my boat.”
Elsewhere he said that ‘God’ told him to get a boat – and it’s very much giving Evan Almighty.
“He’s got my back. I’m in good shape. I’m not sweating it,” he added.
With Joe’s defiance in leaving his boat ahead of the category five hurricane hitting today, people have expressed concerns for his welfare.
“Lieutenant Dan is stressing me out more than Milton at this point,” one person penned on the most recent update.
A second said: “I am so invested in Lieutenant Dan. I am scared for him. I am praying he makes it through this.”
Meanwhile, another asked if the police had plans of ‘forcing him to leave’ the boat today, to which Terrence replied: “I believe so.”
A different person penned: “I keep coming back for updates we just want him safe!”
The last update on Joe was issued 11 hours ago at the time of writing.
Terrence has set up a GoFundMe page for the devout sailor, which you can donate to here.
Tampa mayor Jane Castor took to CNN on Monday night (October 7) to urge all of the residents who are in a hurricane evacuation zone to leave immediately.
This comes as Hurricane Milton is heading towards the Florida city. Milton is expected to hit Tampa Bay by Wednesday and travel east across Florida before exiting into the Atlantic Ocean.
Castor specifically addressed the people who have ridden out previous storms and said she has never seen a storm of this caliber before in her lifetime, and taking the same action for Milton could prove to be a fatal error.
“I can say this without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die.”
The mayor emphasized just how severe the situation was by adding that she had never issued such warnings in the past.
She continued: “A ten to 12 foot surge… if this takes a jog to the south that is going to save us from the storm surge but if it stays on the track that it is projected to be on right now, or if it goes a bit north, would be even worse.”
One of the predicted paths of Hurricane Milton (CNN)
For context, these surges would be twice as large as those triggered by Hurricane Helene that struck less than two weeks ago.
She continued: “Some of the predictions are saying that Pinellas County, to the south of us, the entire county is going to be under water.
“This is something I have never seen in my life and I can tell you that anyone who was born and raised in the Tampa Bay area has never seen anything like this before. People need to get out.”
Scientists have warned that the upcoming Hurricane will prove particularly devastating and damaging.
The mayor was very firm in her warning for the upcoming hurricane (CNN)
As of yesterday, the hurricane has progressed to the top category on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
Category five is stated as seeing winds at speeds of ‘157 mph or higher (252 km/h or higher)’ with ‘catastrophic damage’ occurring.
Residents all over the state have been urged to evacuate, with Florida preparing for the largest evacuation since Hurricane Irma with the state’s National Guard reported as mobilizing 5,000 troops to help get people out and planning on sending another 3,000 out before Wednesday.
The beast, which at its peak strength recorded winds of 180mph, made landfall on the Sunshine State yesterday evening (October 9) as a category three storm – with winds up to 129mph.
It has since decreased to category one, but earlier this week it reached category five – with experts even questioning whether the Saffir-Simpson Wind scale needed to be developed to include further categories.
The route Hurricane Milton made as it devastated Florida (Fox Weather)
The National Weather Service reported that at least 27 tornadoes hit the state yesterday, with one in St. Lucie County resulting in multiple deaths after it struck a retirement community.
Speaking about the devastation in the area, Sheriff Keith Pearson told CNN: “We are not going to get into how many, but I can tell you it’s more than one person who has lost their life.”
It is the third hurricane to hit Florida this year, and has left more than three million people across the state without electricity.
Despite Disney announcing that the Disney World resort in Orlando would be closed on October 9 and 10, guests have still been able to take refuge in hotels on the resort – with one person capturing the footage from their hotel room.
Disney World told guests: “Please prepare to shelter indoors in your room or building beginning at 8:30 PM, as the storm is expected to intensify.
“The Walt Disney World theme parks, water parks, recreation offerings and Disney Springs are now closed through Thursday, October 10.”
Goldman Sachs analysts projected back on Tuesday that the likely closures and disruptions from Milton will reduce Disney’s earnings in the park division by between a whopping $150 million and $200 million this quarter.
Regardless of the danger to life, thousands of people in the state have decided to make the bold move of staying in their properties and there have been some incredible stories to come out of it – including that of Pedro Casares.
Hurricane Milton has caused widespread destruction across the state (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
The Florida man unconventionally strapped down his home in Orlando in a bid to stop it from being destroyed.
But the force of the hurricane was well and truly proven by the Tampa Field stadium, which had it’s roof completely ripped off.
The full extent of Hurricane Milton’s damage will be revealed today once the sun comes up.
Elsewhere, people of social media have been left relieved to learn that viral star ‘Lieutenant Dan’ survived the hurricane, despite refusing to leave his boat.
