IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Florida man parks Smart car in kitchen over fear Hurricane Dorian would blow it away

The man's wife said her car did not receive such treatment and remained in the garage.
Image: Patrick Eldridge parked his Smart Car in his Florida home because he was afraid Hurricane Dorian would blow it away.
Patrick Eldridge parked his Smart Car in his Florida home because he was afraid Hurricane Dorian would blow it away.Jessica Eldridge

A Florida man who was worried his Smart car may blow away in Hurricane Dorian's punishing winds parked it in his kitchen, his wife posted on Facebook.

Jessica Eldridge said her husband Patrick was "afraid his car might blow away" so he parked it in their Jacksonville home's kitchen. She added in the Tuesday post that her car was in their garage.

Dorian's center was east of Jacksonville Wednesday, as the storm moved up the U.S. Atlantic coast. The Category 2 storm's maximum sustained winds had decreased slightly to 105 mph.

Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics

The storm sat for days over the Bahamas where it wreaked havoc on the Caribbean islands. At least seven people there were killed, and more deaths were expected, Hubert Minnis, the prime minister of the Bahamas, said.

More than 13,000 homes on the Abaco Islands and the neighboring Grand Bahama island, which were hit particularly hard, were damaged or destroyed.

In much less devastating hurricane news, a woman in Nassau, Bahamas, said she had collected and was sheltering nearly 100 stray dogs in her home to keep them safe.

"It's been insane. So many dogs, I can't even get one step without a dog being on my foot, but I'm not complaining because ... everybody’s safe and that was the main goal for this," Chella Phillips told NBC News.

And more than a dozen bricks of cocaine washed up on two separate Florida beaches Tuesday from waves churned up by Hurricane Dorian, police said. One washed up at Paradise Beach Park and 15 bricks of cocaine were found in a duffel bag that had washed ashore on Cocoa Beach, about 20 miles north.