Anderson Cooper hit with hurricane debris during live shot

Anderson Cooper was hit by flying debris during a live broadcast Wednesday while reporting on Hurricane Milton in Florida.

The CNN anchor was reporting from the shore of the Manatee River in Bradenton, Fla., south of Tampa, describing the scene as violent winds blew past him and heavy rainfall drenched him and his equipment.

“The water now is really starting to pour over,” Cooper said as he trudged through the water, which was gushing over the bank he was walking on.

“If you look at the ground, whoa…,” he said, stopping short as a white object slammed into his torso. “OK, that wasn’t good.”

The “Anderson Cooper 360” host resumed his reporting, noting that he would probably go inside shortly. “But you can see the amount of water here on the ground. This is water from the Manatee River.”

The footage then cut to the CNN studio and “The Source” anchor Kaitlan Collins reassured viewers about her colleague.

“I do want to note for everyone watching who is very concerned obviously about all of our correspondents and anchors on the ground, Anderson is OK,” she said. “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.”

Cooper, who joined CNN in 2001, has repeatedly reported from the scenes of crises, famously decamping to the Gulf Coast for much of September 2005 to deliver emotionally wrought reports about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction.

Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key — a barrier island near Sarasota — around 8:30 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday. It left a path of destruction in its wake, with surges up to 10 feet and 120-mph winds that pounded communities across the state, flooded homes, downed trees and cut power to 3 million Floridians. Milton is the third hurricane to make landfall in Florida this year; it comes less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene barrelled into the rural Big Bend region of the state’s panhandle, then moved on to Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, killing more than 230 people across multiple states.

As Milton pulled offshore Thursday morning and moved onto the Atlantic Ocean, it weakened to a Category 1 hurricane, but officials warned that a large swath of the state’s east coast was still under threat. In St. Petersburg, the hurricane tore most of the roof off Tropicana Field, the Tampa Bay Rays’ stadium. It also pushed a construction crane off the roof of a partially built luxury high-rise onto an office building that houses the offices of the Tampa Bay Times newspaper.

Times staff writer Jenny Jarvie and intern Sandra McDonald contributed to this report.