Curious video: Man paddles in house as storm surge sweeps through Florida
Florida/USA - A curious video shows a man paddling a kayak in his living room that he wanted to use as an "escape" - but Hurricane Helene was faster.
On Thursday, the storm hit the US state of Florida unexpectedly and caught many residents unprepared.
Matthew Heller, a TikTok user, reported that the storm surge took him completely by surprise in his home, as it "came out of nowhere".
In a video on the social media platform, he documented the rising water and acted quickly: he grabbed a kayak and sat in it to find shelter from the encroaching water in his house.
"The kayak was my backup plan in case it got too dangerous so we could get out safely," Heller told CNN.
The water in the house was over a meter high
He estimated that the water rose to around 1.20 meters as it flowed into his house - the worst flooding he had ever experienced. In another video, he showed the extent of the flooding: dirty water poured into the house through his garage when he opened the door.
After closing the garage door again, Heller demonstrated how the water entered the house through cracks in the door frame and through a back room that looked out onto a large body of water.
Authorities had previously warned that storm surges could reach heights of 1.5 to 2.4 meters. Helene left millions of people without power and claimed the lives of at least three people.