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Family confirms grandma's OK after Hurricane Matthew by delivering pizza

Mary Bowerman
USA TODAY Network
Family members sent a pizza deliveryman to check on their grandmother after Hurricane Matthew swept through Florida.

A family desperate for news of their grandmother after Hurricane Matthew swept through Florida, decided to get creative after their attempts to reach her failed.

Eric Olsen of Omaha, Neb., said he spoke to his grandmother, who lives alone in Palm Coast, Fla., on Friday, ABC reported.

“She had just lost power, and she said, 'This is a nightmare,'" Olsen told ABC. “And then we didn't hear from her for two days."

Olsen said he and family members across three states tried for two days to find out if 86-year-old Claire Olsen had survived the hurricane.

After his calls to the police department and sheriff's department had gone unanswered, he decided it was time to get creative.

“So I just said, 'I'm going to order her a pizza, and if they can deliver it, then I know she's alive,'" Olsen told ABC.

Olsen reached out to the only Papa John’s in Flagler County and requested that the delivery man give Claire Olsen the pizza, and also a cell phone so Olsen could check on her, WFTV reported. 

Olsen said when he heard Claire’s voice on the other end of the phone, “he felt relief.”

"Police and fire couldn't do it, but Papa John's got there in 30 minutes and put the cellphone to her ear," he told ABC.

Pizza deliveryman Lance Tyler told WFTV that Claire’s expression was “priceless.”

The pizza was “fantastic,” and Claire Olsen told the station she appreciated the gesture.

According to WFTV, Claire Olsen’s phone was later reconnected, and she called to let everyone know that she was ok.

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