Hurricane Milton Strikes Florida: Reporters Face Harrowing Close Calls as Storm Makes Landfall

Fox Wear correspondent Robert Ray experienced full impact of Hurricane Milton on Wednesday night, just before storm me landfall. Milton struck Florida as a Category 3 storm near Siesta Key, less than 20 miles from Ray and his team’s location in west Brenton.

A Close Call for Reporters

“We just h this entire tree snap and fall right on our vehicles,” Ray reported on Fox Wear. After finishing a live update on Manatee River, he walked to his vehicle and looked at his phone when disaster struck.

“And n, all of a sudden, boom!” Ray recalled. “ whole tree just comes down and partially goes into vehicle where [cameraman] Lloyd is.” He confirmed that it was “for sure a hurricane wind gust to take down a tree like that.”

Ray described a “bit of a chaotic moment” following incident, where he asked if everyone was alright but “couldn’t hear a darn thing” due to roaring winds. He expressed concern about remaining part of pine tree still standing, fearing it might also collapse.

Anderson Cooper Faces Danger Live on Air

In a similar incident, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper was struck by debris while reporting live from same area near Manatee River.

“It’s coming in from kind of rast. And, water is really w just starting to pour over. If you look at ground,” Cooper began before being hit.

“Okay, that wasn’t good. Um, we’ll probably go inside shortly,” he ded, ting abrupt change in his situation. It remains unclear what exactly struck Cooper, but it appeared to hit his he as he faced downward.