On Wednesday, a Florida man set out to repair his boat, which had broken down days earlier.
However, to his surprise and horror, weather conditions worsened faster than he had expected as Hurricane Milton rolled over the state, leaving the unnamed sailor unable to return to shore in time.
According to CBS News, his rudder became tangled in a line, leaving him stranded in the Gulf of Mexico.
Despite being in contact with the Coast Guard, communication was lost at 6:45 p.m. as the storm intensified.
The U.S. Coast Guard had advised him to put on a life jacket and activate his emergency transmitter before contact was lost.
"This man survived a nightmare scenario, even for the most experienced sailor," the Coast Guard stated, as reported by DR Nyheder.
Against the odds, the man clung to a cooler for survival as he endured the storm alone in the open sea, 30 miles off the Florida coast. His life jacket and emergency transmitter were crucial to his rescue, enabling the Coast Guard to locate him on Thursday, hours after losing communication.
A helicopter crew found him floating in the Gulf of Mexico and swiftly transported him to a Tampa hospital for treatment.
Clean-up efforts are now underway in Florida, which has been struck by two powerful hurricanes in the span of two weeks.
