Boat pulled away by storm surge lands in Cape Coral backyard

Reporter: Haley Zarcone Writer: Elyssa Morataya
Published: Updated:

A boat in a spot where it shouldn’t be, it’s something we saw often with Hurricane Ian, and now we are seeing it again after Hurricane Milton.

WINK News met with a man who was trying to help his boat escape the storm but couldn’t.

Lewis MacDonald has had a fishing charter business since the 90’s.

He moved his boat from Cape Haze Marina in Englewood to a canal in Cape Coral Tuesday ahead of Milton.

During the hurricane, his boat moved from a Cape Coral canal to a homeowner’s backyard off McGregor Blvd.

After trekking across the Caloosahatchee with multiple anchors down, the boat saw quite a lot of damage.

The MacDonalds posted on Facebook asking if anyone had seen their boat and a woman who lived off of McGregor Blvd. reached out and said she had their boat in her backyard.

“When I got there and looked at it, 36-foot boat, and there was like 13 and a half feet left on the port side, and maybe 14 feet left on the starboard side, and it was cut all the way through this the four main stringers, plus the keel,” said MacDonald. “I mean, it looked like it took a torpedo on the port side of the boat and just exploded.”

Seeing his boat in pieces was emotional, but he’s thankful the homeowners off of McGregor Blvd., where the boat ended up, were good sports about it.

MacDonald’s now talking with an insurance adjuster and looking for a new boat for his business.

He told WINK News that after these storms and the damage they left behind, he’s even thinking of moving his business to the keys.

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