Hurricane Ian: Large Tree Branch Strikes Weather Channel Reporter on Live TV

By Daniel S. Levine

The Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore is a household name thanks to his daring on-location reporting of the worst tropical storms and hurricanes each year. On Wednesday, as Hurricane Ian began hitting Florida hard, Cantore was in the heart of the action. He almost always finds himself at the center of viral videos during these dangerous events, and Ian's extreme winds brought a tree branch right to his feet.

Just as Ian began making landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, Cantore was reporting from a street in Punta Gorda. He stood in the middle of an intersection to show audiences how difficult it is to even stand up with wind gusts reaching 110 mph where he was. While he was speaking, a branch skipped along the ground, knocking him to his feet.

Cantore then got up, ran to the sidewalk, and held onto a street sign for dear life so he wouldn't get knocked to the ground by the wind. A Weather Channel anchor repeatedly asked Cantore if he was OK. "I'm fine," Cantore said as the howling wind made him barely audible. "I just can't stand up." He then got out of the camera shot. "I'm just going to let you guys look at the pictures," he said.

Hurricane Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa around 3:05 p.m. EDT, with maximum sustained winds near 150 mph, reports Weather.com. A second landfall followed at 4:35 p.m. in Pirate Harper, south of Punta Gorda, with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph. The storm caused plenty of damage in Florida before it made landfall though, hammering the west coast of the peninsula. A storm surge warning is still in effect for much of the west coast, while a hurricane warning now stretches across the central part of the state, from Tampa-St. Petersburg, through Orlando, and up to Daytona Beach.

Since making landfall, the storm is still a Category 4, with maximum sustained winds at 140 mph. There is a rare extreme wind warning in effect until 6 p.m. EDT for Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres, and Fort Myers. This means winds exceeding 115 mph are expected.

Cantore has become an integral part of The Weather Channel's coverage of major storms and is now a celebrity. Nora Zimmett, president of news and original series for The Weather Group, told USA Today this is the 109th storm Cantore has covered live. "Jim never set out to be some sort of weather celebrity," Zimmett said. "He's just a science nerd who made it cool to be super smart and passionate about the weather."

Cantore has never been injured by a storm, even though he has been in plenty of dangerous situations. "We at the Weather Channel do not put people in harm's way, and the times we have felt we've positioned (reporters) too close to the heart of the storm, we will move them if they don't have sufficient cover," Zimmett said. Cantore and other crew members usually wear Kevlar vests and have goggles and helmets. They have daily meetings on safety, Zimmett said.

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