LIVE AT 2:30 MT 2-hour wildfire evacuation notice issued for some Fort McMurray neighbourhoods
A wildfire evacuation alert for some Fort McMurray residents has been updated to a two-hour evacuation notice.
Rob Cohen had been waiting for the perfect moment to propose -- and that moment dawned on him as Hurricane Ian approached Florida.
Cohen had a feeling that the site of his first date with Mary Fixl -- along Lake Eola in Orlando -- would soon be flooded by the monster storm. So, he rushed his partner out to the spot on Wednesday as it was starting to rain.
"Everything else was closed. And I was like, 'You want to go on a little hurricane adventure with me?'" Cohen said.
Cohen dropped down on one knee, in the very spot where they walked on their first date in December 2021, and he asked Fixl to marry him.
After the proposal, the couple hurried back to their home and stayed put while the hurricane battered the state for hours on Wednesday, killing more than 20 and leaving destruction in its path.
Fixl and Cohen have been together for nine months, but they have known each other for 12 years -- they met as neighbours.
When Fixl was on a 10-day European cruise last week, Cohen said he realized, "I needed to hurry up and marry this girl because I was not a happy camper while she was gone."
He didn't waste another day.
"I figured that would be a very memorable way to propose in a hurricane," Cohen said.
"It's a very Florida thing to do," Fixl explained.
Fixl said she was in the shower when Cohen asked her to go on a "hurricane adventure." He handed her a sundress for the occasion. When she asked whether she needed to do her hair and makeup, he said no.
"I thought we were just going to go play in the rain," Fixl said. "Little did I know that he was going to propose so I have no hair, no makeup. I have a dress on in the middle of the storm."
CNN happened to be watching the tender moment from a distance -- and soon asked for an interview.
"It was kind of surreal, to tell you the truth," Cohen said, after speaking to CNN's Ryan Young. "And then CNN interviewing, it just put the cherry on top."
Cohen was right about getting to the spot several hours before the storm. The giant fountain in Lake Eola Park was underwater when he saw it on Thursday, he said.
The couple's second-story condo was unscathed by the hurricane, although the ponds all overflowed, Fixl said. The damage was minimal this time, but they've experienced worse.
"We've been through like six or seven hurricanes here, the worst of which was Charley in 2004," Cohen said. "And that looked like a bomb went off in the complex."
Being grateful for their home and for each other carries them through, although finding love took a long time for Cohen and Fixl.
"Love can be very unexpected," Cohen said. "Never give up hope because I'm 52 and ..."
"I'm almost 40 and I've never been married," Fixl said, jumping in.
"Sometimes you just gotta wait for it," he said.
A wildfire evacuation alert for some Fort McMurray residents has been updated to a two-hour evacuation notice.
Canadian LifeLabs customers who filed an application for a class-action settlement began receiving their payments this week, though at a much lower amount than initially expected.
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
Saskatchewan RCMP have revealed that a historic sexual assault investigation has led to the discovery of alleged crimes against children dating back to 2005.
An American accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania college student in 2013 and later sending her a Facebook message that said, 'So I raped you,' has been detained in France after a three-year search.
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Ontario Provincial Police are responding to a fatal collision involving two vehicles on Highway 417 in Ottawa's west end on Tuesday morning.
The Israeli flag is flying at Ottawa City Hall today to mark the country's national day, with plans to hold a private ceremony to mark Israel's Independence Day. There is a significant police presence at City Hall, including security barriers outside the main doors.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.