CNN anchor Anderson Cooper has been hit in the face with debris while reporting outdoors on Hurricane Milton in Florida as the massive storm makes landfall. The hurricane arrived in the state as a Category 3 storm early Wednesday night near Sarasota County’s Siesta Key, bringing destructive tornadoes, 28ft waves, strong winds, heavy rainfall, and storm surge across multiple areas. The National Weather Service generated 111 tornado warnings as of 9.
30 pm UK time, breaking a 2017 record. Facing wind speeds of more than 150mph , Cooper was sent out to Bradenton, Florida on Wednesday night to report on the carnage unfolding in the Sunshine State. “The water now is really starting to pour over,” said an already drenched Cooper while speaking to the camera on a walkway beside the Manatee River.
Things didn’t get much better for the 57-year-old news veteran as seconds later the elements propelled a white object right into his face, momentarily dazing him. “Well, that wasn’t good,” he said. “We’ll probably go inside shortly.
” Things weren’t much better for Cooper’s colleague Bill Weir in St Petersburg, who was literally swept off of the screen during his report. Although sending reporters out into dangerous storms isn’t uncommon in US media, viewers still couldn’t help but be concerned for Cooper. On X/Twitter, one person wrote: “What does putting Anderson Cooper on a pier in the middle of the ocean at the height of a hurricane in its centre achieve in i.