Hurricane Ian Knocked One Reporter Off His Feet, Had Another Using A Condom On Her Mic!

Weather reporting took front and center this week and without dull moments thanks to Hurricane Ian.

Some people don't take the weather warnings seriously enough until veteran meteorologist Jim Cantore visits their area. Then they know it's about to get real. And real is just what happened when the reporter was struck by a flying tree branch live on air.

While broadcasting live on Wednesday, The Weather Channel reporter proved to viewers that things were serious as he stood in 110 mph winds in Punta Gorda. "Yeah, this is extreme," he said while standing in the middle of the street. Moments later, he was seen being pushed by the extreme winds and falling to the ground after being struck by the flying tree branch.

Not much can keep this guy down. After he gets back up he said, "Alright, you know what, I think I'm just going to come in here a second," and then he grabs a street sign to brace himself. After reassuring his team that he's fine, he said it was difficult to "stand up" because of the wind gusts. "I'm just, I'm going to let you guys look at the pictures, OK? And I'm going to stand behind this wall a little bit," he said after making it back. He was then heard adding, "That was definitely our strongest gust. That one took my wind."

One social media user explained the typical Florida hurricane timeline in a tweet, "The six horsemen of an impending hurricane, in order of severity: - Publix begins selling hurricane cakes - Midwestern family starts checking in - Disney closes - Editor asks you to check out plywood supply at Home Depot - Jim Cantore arrives - Waffle House closes." Another had a similar timeline, "FLORIDA HURRICANE SCALE cat 1- no birds cat 2- rain cat 3- publix hurricane cakes cat 4- jim cantore is here cat 5- waffle house closed." 

Other viewers also took to Twitter to say what was on their minds as many were concerned for the weatherman's safety. One person tweeted, "Hurricane doesn’t start until we see Jim Cantore holding a street sign for dear life." Another wrote, "Jim Cantore literally hit by a flying tree branch during a live report. Please get this man off the street."

Another TV news reporter had people scratching their heads after seeing her broadcast in Naples, Florida. Viewers noticed something odd about her microphone and began asking questions. NBC's Kyla Galer said in a clip shared online, "A lot of people are asking what is on my microphone. It is what you think it is - it's a condom!" She added, "It helps protect the gear. We can't get these mics wet. There's a lot of wind, there's a lot of rain, so we got to do what we got to do, and that is put a condom on the microphone."

Galer had people talking online and wondering if they were seeing what they thought they were seeing. According to Newsweek, Reddit user @PuzzleHead1122 shared a screenshot of the reporter holding the mic and asked the question, "Do microphone covers usually come with a nipple on top? Or is that an improvised covering device aka condom? More than 2,000 people chimed in with the majority confirming that it is a condom. Twitter account Hard Factor also posted a photo on the interesting situation.