Callie Brown's account of Hurricane Ian will haunt the Fort Myers, Florida family forever. The memory that stands out is them tucking 3-month-old Charlie in a plastic tub to protect him from drowning in the rage of the cataclysmic storm.
Callie said it was just the winds at first as Ian barreled ashore. Strong winds ripped a tree in their front yard and their backyard lanai, which catapulted into their neighbor's yard.
Brown thought this was the worst of the storm, but she was dead wrong. That was when the water started to flow inside her home. Brown said they first noticed it by the back slider doors, which seemed like it was a slow creep. She added that it was probably 2 feet deep within 10 minutes.
Family climbed to the attic as they looked for higher ground
Brown told Fox Weather that the family debated jumping in their car to flee, but they quickly realized it was too late by the time they got Charlie ready to go. She said they could not even open their garage door anymore as the water pressure outside was so strong, and a river was already going down their street.
With the water rising fast, the family took to higher ground. They climbed into their attic, with Brown's husband grabbing anything he could recover quickly. Charlie's needs were their main priority as they grabbed the baby's clothes, formula, and bottles. They feared the worst for the next 15 minutes as they watched the flood rise below them.
Brown said that they did not know when the water would stop, and the only thing she knew at the time was that it was rising very quickly. She recalled that it got almost to the top of her car, which was in the garage. She remembers saying at that point that it is still coming, and she does not want to die.
Brown was scared that the water would soon reach the attic, so the new mom made the split decision that would ultimately save not only her life but also the lives of her son and husband. She said that if they were going to escape the house, they had to do it right then and there.
Baby Charlie placed in a Tupperware bin as family made escape
The couple found some Tupperware bins filled with old holiday decorations in the attic. They dumped the décor and put Charlie in one of them as they plotted their escape. They climbed down the attic ladder, swam through their house to the front door, and went out.
The escape was not easy, though, as they had no control over their direction due to the current's strength. The family managed to get to an RV camper three houses down and noticed a partially submerged two-level lanai around the back of the house. The homeowners allowed them to seek refuge in the place, which fortunately never flooded during the storm.
Brown is lucky her family survived Hurricane Ian. At least 109 people have been reported killed by the deadly storm in the United States, with 105 of those deaths coming in the state of Florida, according to CNN.
