Fort Myers Beach resident Hope Labriola, 45, stood naked on her bed for several hours while in her mobile home in the park before being rescued by the Cajun Navy, the volunteer disaster relief team, early Thursday morning, Labriola said. on CNN.
Labriola’s struggle to survive the storm surge caused by Hurricane Ian on Wednesday was captured by her friend Lisbeth Whelan, who recorded the last phone call she had with Labriola before Labriola lost phone service.
The call was made around 5pm on Wednesday and lasted about three minutes before being dropped, the recording shows.
“I heard the water coming into her phone and then everything went off,” Whelan told CNN.
“She told me her nose was touching the ceiling and she was having trouble breathing. It was torture,” Wheeler said. “She was naked. She had to take her clothes off because the clothes kept getting wet and weighing her down and she’s only about 100kg.’
During the call, a crying Lambriola is heard repeatedly saying, “I can’t do this” and “I’m so cold.”
Labriola also teared up during previous phone calls as she watched floodwaters destroy her family heirlooms, Whelan said.
Seconds before the call hangs up, Whelan asks Labriola if there were water waves nearby that he could hear on the phone. A crying Lambriola then responds with “I love you” and the call ends.
Whelan finally informed Labiola Thursday night and told CNN she was overjoyed to hear her friend had been rescued.
Before hearing from Labriola, Whelan posted on several Facebook groups pleading for rescue teams to check on her friend, but was told it was still too dangerous to begin rescue efforts.
In an interview with CNN Friday morning, Labriola, who has lived in the area with her cat for about 10 years, said she was rescued by the Cajun Navy around 3 a.m. Thursday.
“I saw some flashlights and I started screaming for help through this little crack in my window,” Lambriola said. “At this point, the water was up to my shoulders.”
“They couldn’t get into my house. They tried to break the windows, they tried to do everything they could. Then they finally took me out,” he said.
Labriola told CNN she stood naked on her bed for several hours as she avoided the water gushing into her one-story home.
Once rescued, Labriola said she also saw the Cajun Navy rescue 19 other people, including a man stuck in a tree.
The rescued residents were taken to a hospital around 6 a.m. Thursday, according to Lambriola, who was suffering from hypothermia when she arrived at the emergency room.
Labriola is still in shock but was released from the hospital Thursday night, he said. He is currently sheltering at South Fort Myers High School with other displaced residents.
She stayed home to take care of her cat and ride out the storm. Fort Myers Beach was included in Lee County’s mandatory evacuation order before Hurricane Ian made landfall.
Labriola told CNN she has no plans to return to Fort Myers Beach.
“People are like what are you going to do? And I tell them I’m leaving. You can’t get a house here. The whole place is gone,” he said.
Labriola’s home is completely destroyed, but she managed to save her wallet and cellphone before being rescued. As of Friday morning, she’s still wearing the hospital scrubs they gave her, but she’s thankful to be alive.
“That was the scariest thing I’ve ever been through. I didn’t think I would survive,” he said.
