Sweet photo of police officer kissing daughter goodbye before battling Hurricane Irma goes viral
A photo of a police officer kissing his daughter goodbye before leaving for work amid Hurricane Irma is striking an emotional chord with families everywhere.
On Sunday, the Clearwater Police Department posted a Facebook image of Officer Seth Stiers giving his 7-year-old daughter, Lola, a kiss in the pouring rain before assuming duty in the Florida town west of Tampa.
The emotional moment was liked 1,300 times, in large part by police families — parents who prayed for the safety of their adult children on duty alongside Stiers, and people who grew up with police officers for parents.
Remarking on the physical distance between the father and daughter, who said goodbye without their bodies touching, one person wrote, “That is how my sisters and I would kiss our Dad (who was with the SO) when he had his gun belt on! Safety first.” Another person wrote, “Yes my son being one of the officers out there. Stressing like crazy for his safety on top of the hurricane itself. Lord keep my baby safe please.” Everyone thanked the police department for its efforts.
Yahoo Beauty could not reach a representative from the Clearwater Police Department for comment.
On Monday, utility company Florida Power & Light reported that 62 percent of its customers (that’s 6.5 million homes) lost power when Hurricane Irma swept through the state. And three-quarters of Miami-Dade County is currently without electricity. According to NPR, CEO Eric Silagy said the damages are “unprecedented” and of a “magnitude we just haven’t seen before.”
A number of heart-wrenching viral images have emerged from coverage of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, two Category 4 storms that both made U.S. landfall in the same year, an event that hasn’t occurred in 166 years, reports the Weather Channel.
On Monday, the Fort Lauderdale Police Department tweeted a photo depicting an officer and his German shepherd holding hands while sleeping after an exhausting round of evacuations, with the hashtag #WeAreInThisTogether.
#FLPD #WeAreInThisTogether #HurricaneIrma pic.twitter.com/HFUfS41DU7
— Fort Lauderdale PD (@FLPD411) September 10, 2017
On Aug. 25 a Texas police officer was photographed facing the storm while holding up the American flag. The Aransas Pass Police Department posted the image to Facebook with the caption “While some dishonor and desecrate her, APPD Ofc. Jack McCarty will stop at nothing to honor and save her.”
A photo of residents in a Texas nursing home waiting to be evacuated from waist-deep floodwater circulated on social media in late August.
Nursing home residents left sitting waist-deep in Hurricane Harvey floodwaters rescued https://t.co/xBmbh7ENtw (Pic: Timothy McIntosh) pic.twitter.com/QfuCa6rkKj
— ABC News (@abcnews) August 28, 2017
In the aftermath of Harvey, a Texas couple’s Sept. 2 wedding day was ruined, but a photo of them embracing what really matters went viral.
A dog named Otis also became an internet celebrity when he was spotted roaming the streets of Sinton, Texas, with a bag of dog food in his mouth. According to Today, Hurricane Harvey had frightened the golden retriever mix, who took off on a four-hour journey to find food. After he secured some chow, he came right back home and settled in on the porch.
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