WEEKI WACHEE, Fla — Owning a little slice of heaven along the Weeki Wachee River comes with a price.
"Here's our little chunk of paradise, you know? We're on the river," said Bill Stewart, pointing to his home, "Unfortunately, when you're on the water, it's not a matter of if you're going to flood; it's when you're going to flood."
And it's a price Bill Stewart and his family were willing to pay as they rode out Hurricane Idalia on Wednesday.
"About 7:30 [a.m.], quarter to eight, the water starts coming up, and we're just sitting there watching it, and the storm surge came in, and there's nothing you can do about it," he said.
Having accepted his fate, Stewart says he sat back cracked open a cold Heineken beer, and waited for the knee-deep flooding to stop.
"We had about two feet of water in the house," he said.
His wife snapped a now-viral picture of Stewart to capture the moment—and he later posted it on Facebook.
"It just snowballed from there, and its gone everywhere," he said.
Amused by the online attention, Stewart tells ABC Action News that he and his wife eventually left their home and went next door.
"We were up on the back deck of my neighbor's house, and we're sitting there, we're having a couple of cold ones and drying out, you know, waiting for the water to recede, and my wife said, 'I smell something, burning,'" he said.
That something...was their house.
"It started right here behind her dresser," said Stewart.
Bill told us investigators believe a surge protector sparked a fire that ruined almost everything the floodwaters didn't already damage.
And yet, true to the calm he exuded in that picture, Stewart is taking things in stride.
"They're material things, and they can be replaced. You know? As long as my wife is healthy, as long as my dogs are healthy, the rest is irrelevant," he said.
He said they're working with an insurance company and will eventually rebuild or repair their home. And with any luck, he added that they'll land a sponsorship for all of the free beer promotion his picture has brought in.
"Heineken, call me!" he laughed.
