A brave TV weatherman was caught on camera trying to report from the heart of Hurricane Milton as the ferocious storm made landfall on Wednesday evening.
Robert Ray, a correspondent for Fox Weather, was seen on camera, complete with bicycle helmet and goggles, barely able to stand upright as he was buffeted by 100 mph winds and pelted by driving rain in Bradenton, Florida.
Ray is one of dozens of reporters on the road in the terrible weather conditions, trying to give viewers an idea of what the conditions are like as the storm swirls around them.
While many other networks had their reporters safely in hotels or sheltered by nearby buildings, Ray was truly out in the elements and completely exposed as he felt the full power of Milton.
Robert Ray, a correspondent for Fox Weather, was seen on camera, complete with bicycle helmet and goggles, barely able to stand upright
A drenched Ray was caught on camera trying to report from the heart of Hurricane Milton as the ferocious storm made landfall Wednesday evening
Ray was introduced by the anchor and noted how he was going to demonstrate what “an extreme weather warning looks like.”
“That’s why I’m standing here, and you know something: this is a historic storm and this is part of the documentation that will hopefully also show that people need to evacuate. You don’t want to be involved in this,” a rain-soaked Ray warned, shouting into the microphone as he struggled to be heard.
“You don’t want to be in your house if it’s not structurally confident. We’re going to see a lot of these issues tomorrow, especially in mobile homes,” Ray explained.
“This is why we show Milton’s anger. Milton’s menacing fury, undoubtedly the heaviest wind I’ve experienced all season and I hope this is the end of it.’
Viewers were treated to the disparity of the studio’s warmth and tranquility as Ray was left to battle the hurricane winds in Florida.
At one point, a soaked Ray was forced to crouch on the ground because the wind was so strong
Ray was soaked and found it difficult to look at the camera or even stand up
Milton made landfall on the west coast of Florida on Wednesday night and struck slightly earlier and further south than predicted.
The storm made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph near Siesta Key around 8:30 p.m., the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Siesta Key is a barrier island city of about 4,500 people near Sarasota, about 60 miles south of the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, home to more than 3 million people.
Milton also spawned at least 19 tornadoes, causing damage in numerous counties, and destroying approximately 125 homes, most of them mobile homes.
The Hurricane Center labeled it an “extremely dangerous” storm that could bring deadly storm surge, high winds and flash flooding to Central Florida.
A soaked Ray said the weather conditions were the strongest he had experienced all season
A soaked Ray tried to take cover, but it was no use. There was no way to escape the lashing wind and rain
A power transformer explodes, creating a background light as Hurricane Milton makes landfall in Fort Myers, Florida
Wind-driven rain soaks a street in downtown Tampa, Florida as Hurricane Milton passes by
No fatalities had been reported yet, but people were warned not to venture outside.
“Right now it’s too dangerous to evacuate safely, so you need to shelter in place and just hunker down,” DeSantis said in announcing the landfall.
The storm was expected to cross the Florida peninsula overnight and reach the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday, still at hurricane force.
Once past Florida, it should weaken over the western Atlantic Ocean and possibly fall below hurricane strength by Thursday evening, but it will nevertheless also pose a storm surge hazard on the state’s Atlantic coast.