An NBC News photographer battled wind gusts of 100mph as he reported from Florida amid Hurricane Idalia’s landfall.
Paul Rigney was on the ground in Perry at just after 8am on Wednesday 30 August when he was nearly blown off his feet.
“The gust was so severe it lifted me, my camera and tripod off the ground. Hence the wobble halfway through,” Mr Rigney tweeted, responding to a video shared on Twitter of his report.
He also explained that a billboard close to him “collapsed” in “roaring” winds.
Paul Rigney was on the ground in Perry at just after 8am on Wednesday 30 August when he was nearly blown off his feet.
“The gust was so severe it lifted me, my camera and tripod off the ground. Hence the wobble halfway through,” Mr Rigney tweeted, responding to a video shared on Twitter of his report.
He also explained that a billboard close to him “collapsed” in “roaring” winds.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 really starting to see the worst of it here in Perry. We're in the thick of it.
00:04 This is the power of Hurricane Italia. Just a few minutes ago, Willie, there
00:09 used to be a billboard right behind me. It's no longer there. It collapsed as
00:14 these winds began to pick up. You can see the heavy rain pelting us at this
00:19 point. We lost power. I think it was last time we spoke with you here at
00:23 this hotel and the winds are roaring at this point. The local authorities, as
00:27 we had mentioned, they said that once the winds reach 45 miles an hour, they
00:32 wouldn't respond to calls because it wasn't safe for their deputies. We are
00:36 well past that at this point. And as I pause here, we're getting another wind
00:40 gust and I just want to look around and make sure that none of the power lines
00:43 were a little far away from them. But I just want to make sure that nothing is
00:50 too dangerous here. We can easily go inside if anything gets in the hand.
00:55 But as you can see, we're being pelted at this point, Willie.