Anderson Cooper Hit In The Face By Flying Debris While Covering Hurricane Milton Live For CNN

Just minutes after Hurricane Milton made landfall with 120 mph winds at Siesta Key, Florida, Anderson Cooper suffered his own associated impact.

Cooper was doing a live standup for CNN in Bradenton, Florida, which is just a few miles north of Siesta Key, when a piece of flying debris hit him straight in the face. Cooper, consummate pro that he is, shouted out “Woah! That wasn’t good. We’ll probably go inside shortly” before carrying on with his report.

You can watch a rough version of it below, or click through for the longer, clearer CNN version in which Cooper circles back and examines the piece of debris that hit him.

Cooper was not the only member of the CNN family who braved the worst of Milton.

Bill Weir was just to the north in St. Petersburg almost exactly when the storm made landfall. Braving what he described as “slop” — i.e. a whole lot of wind and rain mixed together — Weir not only lost his red CNN hat, but was blown straight out of the frame. Watch the video below posted by the network’s Brian Stelter.

Over on The Weather Channel, hurricane vet Jim Cantore was sheltering in a Port Charlotte parking garage away from wind-borne projectiles, but the harbor still found him. It had “literally taken over the parking area” as the ocean flooded the city.

TV weatherwatchers will remember that Cantore had his own run in with airborne debris during Hurricane Ian. You can watch that video below.