Elderly Florida couple who fell in love during last hurricane vow to ride out Helene together: 'Yolo!'

An elderly couple who fell in love during 2022's devastating Hurricane Ian ignored calls to evacuate Thursday and said they would celebrate their hurricane-iversary by riding out Helene together as well. 

Michele Vikartofsky and Larry Leventhal met each other during the devastating Category 5 Ian that killed 161 people, because they were 'both crazy people that stayed' at their homes on Sanibel Island, Florida. 

And despite Florida officials urging residents to evacuate before Helene made landfall on Thursday night, the couple remained at home this time as well. 

When asked by NBC News why they remained, Michele had a one-word answer: 'Yolo.' 

Michelle and Larry said while Helene brought widespread destruction across several states, including leaving over three million without power, the damage does not compare to when Ian struck two years ago. 

The couple said they each lost cars that were swept away by Ian, but felt safer this time and rode out Helene in their 'hurricane safe' property. 

'We lost power, but it's not as bad as Ian was,' Michelle said. 'But it's still worse than we thought it was going to be.' 

Asked why they remain living on Sanibel Island after it has been continually battered by extreme weather events in recent weeks, Larry said the island is 'paradise' 99 percent of the time.  

The couple revealed to Wink News that they were both strangers when Ian brought them together, as they were both 'crazy' neighbors who decided to weather the storm at the time. 

'We had not met. We just met during the hurricane, spent two days walking around after, so Ian brought us together,' Michelle said, adding 'and now this happened' as she pointed to an engagement ring. 

They said that they felt far safer this time around, because 'after living through Ian, it’s like you could get through anything.' 

Michelle said: 'Ian was destructive. Ian taught us all a lesson that we never thought would happen here. 

'Storm surge is always predicted, but [it] never happened like Ian, so, yeah, we’ve learned to watch a little bit, be a little bit more careful.' 

The couple spoke as Hurricane Helene barreled through several states after touching down in the Big Bend area of Florida on Thursday evening, leaving over three million without power and killing at least fourteen people. 

At least 23 people have been killed so far across Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.

These deaths included a sign falling on one driver on a Tampa highway, two people drowning in coastal Pinellas County, and a four-year-old girl lost her life in a weather-related crash in North Carolina. 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the death toll may continue to climb as rescue teams work through the wreckage left behind. 

The danger of the storm was highlighted as Floridians who decided not to evacuate were told to write their names on their bodies so they could be identified if they died in the storm.

'Please write your name, birthday, and important information on your arm or leg in a PERMANENT MARKER so that you can be identified and family notified,' the sheriff’s office in mostly rural Taylor County warned those who chose not to evacuate in a Facebook post. 

Helene first made landfall with maximum sustained wind gusts of up to 140mph, prompting weather warnings far beyond the Florida coast up into northern Georgia and western North Carolina.

On Friday morning, more than 3 million homes and businesses were without power, including 1.2 million in South Carolina, 1.1 million in Florida, 1 million in Georgia, and 400,000 in North Carolina, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us.

The governors of those states, as well as Alabama and Virginia, all declared emergencies.

'When Floridians wake up tomorrow morning, we're going to be waking up to a state where very likely there's been additional loss of life and certainly there's going to be loss of property,' Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference Thursday night.

By early Friday, Helene was downgraded to a Category 1 storm as it moved past Georgia, after leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

As the hurricane moved through Georgia, Fox Weather reporter Bob Van Dillen was forced to interrupt his live shot to rescue a woman trapped in her car, leading to stunning footage. 

Van Dillen sprang into action as he was filing a live report in northern Atlanta, Georgia, where Helene tore through on Friday morning after making landfall in Florida hours earlier.

Van Dillen began by pointing out the stranded woman 'drove right into the flood waters', and she could be heard screaming for help as he told the studio he had dialed 911 and was waiting for the fire department.

As the screams continued through his broadcast, Van Dillen cut his live shot short to wade in and help the woman, with Fox anchors in the studio branding him a 'hero' as he carried her to safety in chest-deep waters. 

Van Dillen returned to the air after saving the woman and said he waded into the floodwaters because he lost faith that 911 firefighters would rescue her in time.

'It's hard not to, because 911 have so many calls,' he said as he returned to Fox and Friends. 'They're going to take a long time to get here, but the fire department finally did get here.'

The weatherman said that when he first approached the woman, she was 'panicking' and 'wasn't really making too much sense.'

'She was still had the seat buckle on. And she had her window about this much down and she's trying to talk to me through that,' he continued.

'So, I'm trying to open up the door and the water pressure wasn't allowing me to do it,' he said, explaining that the woman had to let water into her car so he could save her.

'(The water was) up to my chest and there's a little bit of a current, but she was a short lady too, she was probably about five feet.'

He concluded: 'I think the panic factor was setting in. And when you start to panic and you're in water and it starts getting cold, you can really, things could really go downhill quickly. So, I just - I couldn't wait.'