CAPE CORAL
A Southwest Florida man went viral for a video he took during Hurricane Ian. It shows the Cape Coral man running with his green eagle flag into the middle of the street to fly it in the sideways rain.
The video was viewed on Facebook 724,000 times. It was shared all over the place without Gabe Ferraro, the man who posted it, knowing because he didn’t have power or internet at the time.
Gabe Ferraro flying his Eagles flag during Ian. (Credit: Gabe Ferraro)
When you visit Ferraro’s Cape Coral home, there’s no question who his favorite team is. Ferraro is a die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fan.
“My mothers pregnant, and she turns to my two older brothers and says, ‘I’m going to name my kid after the Eagles quarterback.’ So my middle brother apparently said it better not be Roman. And my mother said, ‘no, it’s going to be Gabriel after Roman Gabriel,” Ferraro said.
Just like any Philly fan, Ferraro will do anything to show his fandom. That includes running out in the whipping winds of Hurricane Ian to fly his Eagles flag in 100-mile-per-hour winds.
“When I’m holding the flag, I’m looking, making sure things aren’t flying around. Because trees were coming down everywhere,” said Ferraro.
That video went viral, but because Ferraro didn’t have power or wifi, he didn’t know the video exploded until days later.
“My nephew was out in jersey goes. ‘bro, you are blowing up everywhere. What’s blowing up? Your video. I’m like, ‘dude, the video with the flag?’ He goes, ‘it’s everywhere,’” said Ferraro.
Now that flag sits on his blue-tarped roof as a reminder. “It’s got some tears in it. Kind of reminds you of going to battle, I guess. But I wanted it to stay up there during the duration of the playoffs.”
Ferraro expects to be back in the street on Super Bowl Sunday. “No doubt I’ll be up and down this street with the flag if we win. You know what, go birds!”
This time, though, he won’t be fighting a hurricane
Ferraro said he’ll watch the big game at home with family and friends. He said once his roof gets fixed, the flag will come down for safekeeping.
WINK NEWS