'He was a superhero': Son pays tributes to Cork man killed in Florida hurricane

Vivienne Clarke

The 71-year-old Cork man who died in Florida during Hurricane Helene last week had planned to visit his family in Glanmire in the near future.

Aidan Bowles had thought the worst of the hurricane had passed, but he was caught in his home in Pinellas County in the subsequent storm surge. His son, Sam, told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that he had spoken to his father late on Thursday night.

“I called him around 10pm last Thursday night and he told me there was nothing to worry about, that everything was fine and the storm had already passed him. But the storm surge is what caused the issue.

“The next morning around 9.30am, I got a call from the police to say my father was deceased in his home and there was about eight to 10 feet of water surrounding it.”

Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said Mr Bowles was found in a bedroom in his residence and he appeared to have drowned from the rising water that entered the residence.

In an emotional tribute, Sam told of how his father, who adopted him when he was a year old, had emigrated to the United States at the age of 20 “with just $800 in his pocket” and went on to have a very successful career as an attorney in New York.

His father had been “a smart and very intelligent person who could light up a room. He was a man of many hats. He was a New York attorney when he first emigrated. Then he got into the coal business and became one of the largest exporters and importers of coal out of the Gulf of Mexico.

“He was a superhero. He adopted me when I was a one-year-old. He has done so much for me and for everyone he has come into contact with. He was so funny. He knew how to say it and when to say it.”