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A Florida Man Survived Hurricane Ian By Hiding In A Refrigerator

The opening scene of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull catches a lot of flack for asking us to believe Indiana Jones could survive a nuclear blast by hiding in a refrigerator. But maybe that wasn't so far off. A Florida man, George Andrad, just survived Hurricane Ian by doing the exact same thing.

Allegedly, He Used The Fridge As A Life Raft

Andrad, a sous chef, realized that his Fort Myers, FL home might not survive Hurricane Ian, but he knew he still had a chance. Though he lived on the bottom floor of his house, he thought he could climb into his refrigerator and use it as a life raft to traverse the flood waters that rose around him.

He Escaped Not A Moment Too Soon

Just as the flood waters began encroaching on his apartment, Andrad climbed up to his neighbor's second-floor apartment and jumped in his neighbor's fridge.

“I opened it up, and I jumped in,” Andrad told NBC affiliate WBBH. “And the water just raised, raised, raised, raised, raised to my chest.”

And then it continued to rise. In fact, it reached the ceiling of the building's second floor -- with Andrad still in the fridge.

'Oh God, I'm Done'

Eventually, the edges of Andrad's fridge touched the ceiling.

“It takes me floating, and then it’s like ‘boom’ hit the ceiling, and I’m like, ‘Oh God, I’m done,’” said Andrad.

But Andrad managed to float in the water like a buoy for five minutes before the storm surge finally receded. He had survived.

Time to Rebuild

Unfortunately, nothing else of Andrad's survived the hurricane.

“My living room. My couch. My TV. Tables. It’s all gone," he said. "Ceilings are gone. Everything’s gone.”

Andrad, who had lived in the area for 20 years, had opted to ignore evacuation orders during Hurricane Ian since past evacuation orders had not applied to his neighborhood.

And after the news outlet asked Andrad if he found it poetic or ironic that he a chef, had been saved by a fridge, he responded, “No kidding, right? I was inside the fridge. If that fridge wasn’t there, I’d be dead for sure.”

No kidding is right. According to storm centers, storm surges reached 15 feet in some parts of Florida, carrying away cars, residents, debris, and homes. In fact, the storm surge in Fort Myers, where Andrad lived, may have been among the worst storm surges in American history.

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