Jimmy Buffett Goes Surfing In South Carolina As Hurricane Florence Approaches, Says He ‘Ain’t Afraid Of Dying’

Jimmy Buffett isn’t going to let a little thing like a devastating hurricane stop him from surfing.

The “Margaritaville” singer hit the waves on a beach off of South Carolina this week, surfing in the rough waters ahead of the powerful hurricane. Buffett shared a picture of his surfing day on Instagram, joking that he “ain’t afraid of dying” as he quoted his song “Surfing in a Hurricane.”

“I ain’t afraid of dying I got no need to explain I feel like going surfing in a hurricane,” he wrote.

Though the hurricane was still a few days away from making landfall, its effects were already being felt on coastal areas across the Carolinas as storm surges in advance of the storm flooded beaches and wiped out roads.

But despite the relative dangers, Jimmy Buffett did seem to assure followers that he was taking the warnings about the hurricane seriously and advised others to do the same.

“On a serious note – respect mother nature, please be safe and listen to your local authorities,” he wrote.

Hurricane Florence was expected to begin making landfall in the early morning hours on Friday, CNN reported. Though it weakened to a Category 1 storm just before making landfall — the weakest hurricane in terms of wind forces — forecasters said the path of the storm and its projected strength still made it very serious. Hurricane Florence was projected to slow as it made landfall, dumping enormous rainfall amounts on coastal areas and bringing damaging storm surges.

That was the same pattern that devastated Houston last year during Hurricane Harvey.

“With this storm, it’s a (Category 1) but the storm surge and the flooding is going to be that of a category 4,” said CNN Meteorologist Jennifer Gray.

The area where Jimmy Buffett had gone surfing just days before was expected to get hit hard Hurricane Florence, which was projected to make landfall close to 150 miles north in Wilmington. News 4 reported that Folly Beach was expected to be hit with heavy rains, strong wind, and tidal flooding.

It’s not clear if Jimmy Buffett plans to ride out the storm. Folly Beach was under an evacuation order, and local officials looked into blocking all traffic into the island as Hurricane Florence approached. But many local residents said they planned to stay and wait out the storm, the Post and Courier reported, though most tourists staying on the beaches had already left.