Florida Man Films Possible Shark in Neighbor's Yard amid Hurricane Ian: It 'Was Scary'
A shark potentially got a little too close for comfort to one Florida family amid Hurricane Ian's wrath.
On Wednesday morning, Dominic Cameratta was looking out the window at the water rising near his home in Fort Myers, Florida. He started taking a video to show his neighbors how high the water was in their backyard, but then he noticed something big moving in the water.
"I see this thing flopping around in there, and I'm like, 'Oh my God,' and I zoom in," Dominic, a 43-year-old real estate developer, tells PEOPLE of the possible shark nearby. "The way it was swimming was scary. It was moving side to side."
After sending the video to his friends, Dominic says, "People were like, 'That's unbelievable. I think that was a shark!' "
Though Dominic admits he isn't a shark expert — or even a fish expert — his wife Elizabeth and daughter Ella were both convinced the animal was indeed a shark. "I was literally terrified," Ella, 15, says.
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Courtesy of Elizabeth Cameratta
Dominic tells PEOPLE that one of his friends also told him that the creature looks like it could've specifically been a bull shark.
"He said, 'Dom, I'm telling you, I think that's a bull shark because those bull sharks can get up through brackish water. I'm pretty sure that's what it is,' " Dominic says. "So I was like, 'Oh my God, that's crazy.' "
As the day continued, the family — who lives in a one-story home — saw the waters rising and had to decide whether to ride out the storm inside their house or venture outside, where they knew there was something that could be a shark waiting.
"You're faced with this terrifying decision, because we only have a one-story house," Dominic says. "Do you go to the roof? Do we go to our neighbors who were inviting us to come over if we needed to go to their second story?"
"But then you have to go through this water that you literally know a shark is probably in it, not to mention all the snakes, and the current. It's crazy," he continues.
Dominic said that he, his daughter and his wife ended up riding out the storm at their home.
He added that their 18-year-old son, Joey, who is a student at Ole Miss, was worried about his family. They put life jackets on their Cavapoo and their Goldendoodle, while his wife and daughter rode out the storm in his wife's closet.
"Our neighbors were walking in neck-deep water to go to other neighbors' houses that have a second story," Elizabeth, 42 — a stay-at-home mom — tells PEOPLE. "We were freaking out. We were like, 'Oh my God. They're swimming over there. There's snakes and sharks in that water. ... It's really scary. It really was like a horror movie.' "
Dominic, who isn't on social media himself, aside from LinkedIn, said a friend posted his video on Twitter, where it has since gone viral.
"I'm listening to people everywhere. I'm overhearing conversations with people like, 'Did you hear there was a shark on the streets?' " he says. "It's so crazy. It's unbelievable."
