.
September 5th, 2008
11:31 PM ET

Blown off the air....

David Mattingly | Bio
AC360° Contributor

If you blinked, you missed me. Just as I started talking during my liveshot, the deluge that is Tropical Storm Hanna blew out our lights. Electronics and water don't mix.

The really strange thing was the timing. I had been standing there with the light working for almost 15 minutes before Anderson spoke to me. I continued reporting in the dark. Take my word for it...even though you couldn't see it, it was raining–a LOT!
Filed under: David Mattingly • Tropical Storm Hanna
soundoff (13 Responses)
  1. Genevieve M, TX

    We believe you when you say it was raining a lot, especially since your last post included a picture of a "drenched David Mattingly"!

    September 8, 2008 at 1:28 am |
  2. Mike

    I always have refered to the weater nuts who are assigned to stand in the path of a hurricane for our entertainment, as "weather-monkeys"...I feel this is an accurate title. You know, they haven't done their job well unless they go bouncing down the street like a rubber ball or get slammed in the head with an errant I-Beam. Such trite behavior is in line with the slapstick we call TV news today. I find most of the news on TV to be unwatchable at best but I really do like the weather-monkeys...makes me look forward the the next "big one".

    September 7, 2008 at 12:45 pm |
  3. Shane

    Why do we have to have reporters live in the hurricane to "proove" its there any ways? Do we not believe the power of the hurricane that we have to watch people risk their lives to show just how strong the storm is?

    Doesn't make sense to me, I'm sorry you lost your signal, but grateful it wasn't worse.

    September 7, 2008 at 5:33 am |
  4. Paul

    Dont feel bad dave, fledgling reporters like me would love to be having technical difficulties with a major network!

    September 6, 2008 at 10:11 pm |
  5. Leann Phenix

    I wish you all would head back to Baton Rogue as there are major problems there. My relatives live there and they say it is much worse there now than it was after Katrina. The rest of the country thinks LA is fine and it is far from fine!! Please go back to Baton Rogue and report what is really happening there!!

    leann in texas

    September 6, 2008 at 7:12 pm |
  6. JOYCELYN W. RETLEDGE

    I really enjoy your sources, for you are so self-reliant,accurate, to the point, I really enjoy your news information, so intensely phenomenal. Keep reporting, for you are the greatest.

    September 6, 2008 at 12:52 pm |
  7. Jodi A.

    While my thoughts and prayers go out to the areas affected by Hanna, I must say "What happened to Gustav"? I am not sure if the rest of the country is aware, but right now parts of Louisiana are still without power. There are neighborhoods that are estimated to be without power for up to 21 days. How can we live in a nation that allows this to go unnoticed and uncovered by the press?

    September 6, 2008 at 10:55 am |
  8. pati mc., camp hill, pa

    David,

    Glad to hear that you were okay. Figures the minute Anderson tosses to you.....blam....out goes the light.

    This brings up an interesting issue that I have pondered time and time again while watching CNN's Hurricane coverage........how is it that you guys are able to do your broadcasts with all types of state of the art equipment that is of an "electrical nature" and not get hurt? If you ask me, holding a microphone in torrential rain is sorta asking for it. Yikes!

    Aleays wondered about that one.

    Thanks David take care down there.

    September 6, 2008 at 6:40 am |
  9. Sara in Minneapolis

    It sounded like you were in a popcorn popper!

    September 6, 2008 at 12:58 am |
  10. Uma, Liverpool, UK

    Be careful out there, mate! You and crews, and everybody who is courageously covering the natural disasters that are pummelling the USA, Caribbean Islands, Dominican Republic, Haiti, & Cuba.

    What is it you always say to iReporters about not taking unnecessary risks? I'm not sure it's clever to anchor yourself to handy lightning rods! I hope you're all properly earthed, and so forth. Those shots of reporters in Gustav were SCARY!!

    Thank you for your dedication and determination to get the news out. You're not war-correspondents, okay? Nobody die out there, got that? *fret uselessly*

    PS: Mr Mattingly, didn't you start out, 'way back, in NYC with NBC? I'm an NBC baby, and N'Yawka, from the '60s-'80s, and your name is so familiar! Obviously, you'd have been in the Brokaw era, not the Huntley-Brinkley era!

    September 6, 2008 at 12:12 am |
  11. Suzanne - TN

    David

    I heard you and the rain. Almost sounded like hail in the broadcast so it must have really been raining a lot.

    September 6, 2008 at 12:10 am |
  12. Lou

    Stay safe out there David!!!

    September 6, 2008 at 12:10 am |
  13. sarah B....Durham,NC

    Stay Safe....i know we are bracing...mostly just down tress when this happens here....but that could equal lost power...n let's hope that doesnt happen...we are just trying to park our cars in a safe place!!

    September 6, 2008 at 12:09 am |
« Back to main

Team AC360°