Police save 93-year-old Palm Bay man
After tornado hit mobile homes, man persuaded to leave
Palm Bay Sgt. Steve Shytle wasn't giving up.
After a tornado ripped through the Palm Bay Estates mobile-home park Sunday, he went door-to-door during Hurricane Irma’s wrath to check if anyone was injured in the community off U.S. 1.
He found Al Dunn, 93, about 11:30 a.m. still inside his blue and white mobile home. His porch had partially fallen, the ground littered with yellow insulation and sheets of metal.
Every whip of wind clanged his roof and unhinged it a little more, but Dunn refused to leave.
“He said he’s been there forever and went through the storms in 2004 and didn't want to leave his home," Shytle said. "We didn't want to leave him, though.”
Shytle continued working and helping others out of the park to a safe community center. Roofs peeled back. Some landed in the streets or up in trees, while power lines, slabs of nail-ridden wood and metal roof materials were scattered on the ground, causing a maze of dangerous obstacles.
But Shytle kept thinking about Dunn and getting him to safety. He tried several times to negotiate and get him to leave, but this time he begged.
“Please, please, please,” he pleaded. “You aren't safe here. Can you please leave for me?”
After four hours, Dunn finally agreed, packed up a small bag and got into a golf cart. Police took him to the park's community center.
“It was a little bit of coaxing, a little bit of begging, little bit of compassion and he decided he would leave,” Shytle said. “I don't wanna say it's part of my job, but this was one of the nicer things that's happened today.”
The tornado formed off the Indian River, moved through a neighborhood then continued over to the mobile home park.
In total, 18 mobile homes were destroyed.
The side of one home blew off entirely. Colorful Christmas ornaments, speakers, a large stuffed tiger and Michael Jackson CDs from inside littered ground and street.
Its destructive path also ripped the second story off a home on Angler Drive, leaving a trail of debris for two blocks.
Pieces of wood, shingles and yellow foam insulation littered a two-block area as workers and firefighters used a construction truck to clear the road.