Anderson Cooper hit in face by Hurricane Milton debris live on-air

Anderson Cooper is weathering through CNN’s Hurricane Milton coverage.
The “Anderson Cooper 360” anchor was struck in the face by debris during a live hit in Florida.
“The water now is really starting to pour over,” Cooper said. “If you look at the ground — whoa,” he exclaimed as he was hit in the face by flying debris, before saying, “OK, that wasn’t good.”
He continued his live coverage, saying, “Um, we’ll probably go inside shortly, but you can see the amount of water here on the ground. This is water from the Manatee River.”
Hurricane Milton leaves destruction,but not ‘worst case scenario’: Live updates
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Later, CNN’s “The Source” anchor Kaitlan Collins told viewers that she wanted “to note for everyone watching who is very concerned obviously about all of our correspondents and anchors on the ground, Anderson is OK.”
Collins continued: “Just obviously understandably difficult to establish a connection when you’re seeing what’s happening with the wind and the rain and obviously the deteriorating conditions by the minute.”
The response to Cooper’s in-person Hurricane Milton garnered mixed reviews from CNN viewers.
“What does putting Anderson Cooper on a pier in the middle of the ocean at the height of a hurricane in its center achieve in informing viewers. It’s like 120mph winds. Get my sweet porcelain glass anchor inside,” one X user wrote.
Another wrote on X that “CNN better let Anderson Cooper drink on New Year’s Eve this year after sending him to Florida and report outside during this hurricane,” referring to the annual CNN New Year’s Eve special co-hosted by the CNN anchor and his best friend Andy Cohen of Bravo fame.
In the comments of the YouTube video from CNN, users continued to express their worries as one wrote, “I’m sorry but we don’t need to see it that bad!!!!! You have kids Anderson !!!!”
Another said “why are you there, Anderson??”
One commenter added, “Everyone trying to earn an Emmy for best hurricane reporting.”
Hurricane Milton howled across the Florida Peninsula on Thursday, tearing a path of destruction from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic as it knocked out power to millions, flooded neighborhoods, destroyed homes, tore the roof off a major sports venue and toppled a massive crane into an office building.
At least two deaths were reported at a retirement community following a suspected tornado in Fort Pierce on the state’s east coast, St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson told local TV stations. More than 3.3 million homes and businesses were dark by early Thursday, according to USA TODAY power outage data.
“The storm was significant, but thankfully this was not the worst case scenario,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a briefing Thursday. “The storm did weaken before landfall and the storm surge as initially reported has not been as significant overall as what was observed for Hurricane Helene.”
Contributing: John Bacon, Trevor Hughes, Thao Nguyen, Christopher Cann