Couple, dog survive as water rushed into home in Island Park neighborhood

An Island Park couple spent 23 hours trapped in a home, standing in four feet of water.

They watched their belongings float as Hurricane Ian ravaged their neighborhood.

They put their dog on top of a mattress to keep her from drowning.

“What I did was, it was funny, I said to my son, go sweep off the lanai there’s too much water going on and some might come in the house. Then, next thing I know, he says to me, dad, shut the doors, the water’s coming in,’ said Tony Benedetti, of Island Park. “All of a sudden, we see like a whole ocean coming towards the house and just slammed against the house.”

Josie Benedetti was lying down in her bed when her son told her to get up.

“Good thing,” she said. “There was a big hole right over my head.”

Tony Benedetti said it filled up fast.

“I was just praying it would not fill up anymore,” he added.

Benedetti said he was more concerned for his dog than for himself so he kept her close.

 

Josie said her son really saved them.

“My son Paul saved me and my girlfriend,” she said.

Her son waded through the water and got the blankets that were on the top shelf and put them around them their necks to keep them warm, Benedetti said.

“Because the water was so cold, you know, it was, I don’t know how to explain it,” Benedetti said.

They lost everything: clothes, his hearing aid, cars.

“I’m still in limbo waiting to hear from FEMA and the insurance companies and everything else,” Benedetti said. “I don’t know what the hell to do.”

Josie said she didn’t want to evacuate because she had recently had surgery.

Benedetti said he never dreamed they could get that much water.

“We literally got the ocean in the house. I mean, four and a half feet of water,” he said. “But what I say is, if God didn’t want us at this time, it wasn’t our time. If he would’ve wanted us he would’ve taken us.”