Anderson Cooper was whacked in the face with a piece of debris while reporting on the ground in Florida during Hurricane Milton Wednesday night.
The incident occurred as the CNN anchor provided an update from Bradenton, Fla., in the midst of 100-plus-mph winds and intense rain and flooding.
âThe water now is really starting to pour over. If you look at the ground â whoa!â he said in a now-viral video before a large white object flew into his face.
Cooper, 57, immediately quipped, âOK, that wasnât goodâ before saying he and the networkâs camera crew would âprobably go inside shortlyâ for their safety.
âBut you can see the amount of water here on the ground. This is water from the Manatee River,â he continued while bending down to point out the flooding.
Shortly after, âThe Sourceâ anchor Kaitlan Collins came on the air to assure viewers that her colleague was âOK.â
âI do want to note for everyone watching whoâs very concerned, obviously, about all our correspondents and anchors on the ground. Anderson is OK, just obviously understandably difficult to establish a connection when youâre seeing whatâs happening with the wind and the rain and obviously the deteriorating conditions by the minute,â she explained.
Collins, 32, also shared that CNN had several anchors working throughout the stormâs projected path on the west coast of Florida, but the network strategically placed them in mainland areas as opposed to the dangerous coastline.
Several viewers took to social media to express both their admiration and worry for Cooper, who continued to broadcast well after midnight while struggling to stand amid the winds and barreling water.
âHe is fighting for his LIFE and I cannot look away,â one person wrote via X.
âCNN had better let Anderson Cooper black out on New Yearâs Eve for this,â another joked, referring to the hostâs annual end-of-year broadcast with Andy Cohen on CNN.
âGET THIS MAN A BEVERAGE NOW poor guy was getting beaten up,â a third viewer posted.
Cooper has yet to publicly address the debris debacle, but he briefly popped on social media to repost a fanâs Instagram Story thanking him for his hurricane coverage.
Hurricane Milton originated in the Caribbean Sea on Oct. 5 and became a Category 5 storm two days later.
The hurricane weakened to Category 3 before making landfall near Siesta Key, Fla., late Wednesday and killing at least eight people and severely damaging countless homes.
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