The Stoddard’s boat is pictured now, buried in the mangroves. Submitted Photo

A Jamestown resident who winters in Florida was rescued from his boat during Hurricane Ian.

Jay Stoddard and his wife Marcia lived in West Ellicott for many years. Marcia Stoddard used to teach at Cassadaga Valley. Both are retired and spent their winters at Fort Myers Beach in Florida at Snook Bight Marina on their boat. They were there on Sept. 28 when Category 4 Hurricane Ian struck Florida.

“As the storm moved closer it was originally indicated that it was headed towards Tampa,” Stoddard said. “The docks at the marina were floating and able to float above the waves and the storm, so we thought at first we would be OK.”

When the storm hit, the Stoddards were inside the marina. The boat next to theirs had its lines snap and it started bumping into their boat. That’s when Stoddard left the marina to try and secure their boat better.

“When I was out on the boat the wind picked up and the dock snapped,” Stoddard said. “I was trapped. There was a VHF radio in the boat and I was able to communicate with my wife, who was still in the building. Then the hurricane took a turn to the east and the waves got higher and higher so the boats and docks started floating to the middle of the bay.”

Jay and Marcia Stoddard, Jamestown residents who were stranded in Florida during Hurricane Ian last week. Submitted Photo

Stoddard dropped the anchor on his boat to try and stop himself from floating farther away. The anchor caught for about two minutes and then snapped. The boat was free of the dock and Stoddard was on his own.

“I didn’t know where I was going,” Stoddard said. “Outside everything was mostly white.”

At one time as Stoddard was left floating away from the marina, the entire boat flipped sideways onto its port side.

“At that time, I thought I wouldn’t make it,” Stoddard said.

With luck, Stoddard’s boat ended up turning back upright as it hit the edge of the mangroves – a type of shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. At that point, Stoddard worried about the extremely sharp branches of the mangroves coming through the window and hitting him, so he had to lay flat on the floor of the boat.

The Stoddard’s boat as it used to be before the hurricane. Submitted Photo

Eventually the boat finally came to rest once the storm subsided and Stoddard was able to send a distress call out to the Coast Guard through the VHF radio.

“There’s a distress call button on the radio that alerts the Coast Guard,” Stoddard said. “The emergency contact for when that call goes out is my wife. I hit the distress call a few times and they couldn’t reach me, but they did get her. She was then able to reach me through the radio and tell me the Coast Guard couldn’t get to my location until morning.”

Stoddard slept on the boat as best he could, as the generator had also gone out. In the morning he found he was about a mile or a mile and a half from the marina. The mangroves around him were full of debris from the storm, which included a paddleboard. As he had not heard anything from the Coast Guard yet and was not sure that he would, Stoddard decided to lower the swim plank on the boat to try and reach the paddleboard and try to paddle himself back to Marcia.

“I duct taped my shoes to my feet to avoid losing a shoe so I wouldn’t get cut on the mangroves,” Stoddard said. “I managed to get the board back to the boat, and then I heard the Coast Guard on the radio saying they were about two minutes away to be able to extract me.”

Within minutes they were above the boat. They allowed him to grab two bags of clothes from the boat to bring with him, and Stoddard grabbed two bags of his wife’s. The Coast Guard got him up on the helicopter and said they would bring him back to the beach across the street from where his wife was after they made two more extractions. Both extractions were women on the roof with their dogs.

“After that they were ordered to drop us all off at the airport in Punta Gorda,” Stoddard said. “I had no money, no credit card, no phone, no way to contact my wife. One of the rescued ladies had a phone and I was able to call one of our friends there and tell him what had happened. He said I could go to his house.”

Stoddard was taken there by an airport worker who at the time was waiting for the Governor of Florida to arrive. Even with that, he still took the time to drive Stoddard to his friend’s house. The man gave Stoddard $50 before returning to work. The neighbor then opened the house for him.

“I sat there for about five minutes and then said, ‘I can’t stay here, my wife doesn’t know where I am’,” Stoddard said. “I found out later she thought I was in the hospital because the Coast Guard told her that’s where I had been dropped off. I asked the neighbor if I could borrow one of his two cars to try and get back to her. He had his family there so he said I couldn’t borrow one but that he would drive me there himself. So, he left his family and with a total stranger drove me to the bridge on the edge of the island where my wife was. He also gave me $100 before he went home.”

When Stoddard arrived the police were not letting people over the bridge and back to the marina. Stoddard was stopped by police but once he told them what had happened he was allowed to go through. Stoddard went over the bridge and back to the beach.

“I found a bike that had been buried in the sand,” Stoddard said. “I got it out and rode the last three miles back to the marina.”

Stoddard had been taken away from the marina at 2 p.m. on Wednesday Sept. 28. He was reunited with Marcia on Thursday at 5 p.m.

“She gave me a big hug and then immediately punched me for leaving and going out on the boat,” Stoddard said.

The Stoddards spent the next few days at the marina, contemplating their situation. At this point, they are homeless and looters after going into a nearby grocery store which was torn open and where a few other people were already. They managed to get water, ice, and food. They also uncovered a grill at the marina that they were able to clean off and use so for a few days they were able to eat.

A few days later they took what they could in a shopping cart to meet their friends from St. Petersburg, Florida who came and rescued them. They returned to the house in Punta Gorda, where they remain right now.

Eventually they will go to their children in Cleveland and then back home to Jamestown. Their only possessions at the moment are the few bags of clothes from the boat.

“We’re in limbo right now,” Stoddard said. “It’s been a rough week.”

Stoddard would come to discover that his rescue and evacuation would be all over multiple news channels, resulting in over 300 people calling or texting to make sure they were alright.

“Most of these people were friends from Chautauqua County,” Stoddard said. “Some were even just acquaintances that we barely knew. They were all offering to help. The outpouring of humanity is a bit overwhelming. The people in Jamestown are just so supportive. It’s gratifying to see how supportive they are. I just wanted to say a special thanks to everyone.”

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

MAYVILLE — The attorney representing a Georgia woman on trial for the July 2021 fatal wrong-way crash said ...

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

Copyright © Post Journal | https://www.post-journal.com | PO Box 3386, Jamestown, NY 14702 | 716-487-1111