A South Carolina anchor and photographer died on Monday after a large tree fell on their SUV while they were covering Subtropical Storm Alberto.

WYFF news anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were covering “rain impact” in Polk County, North Carolina, when a tree fell on their SUV, killing both of them, their home station said Monday night.

Tryon Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant said in a press conference that at about 2:30 P.M., the station received a call that there was a tree down on a vehicle with people trapped inside. When local authorities arrived, they saw a tree on the SUV in what Tennant estimated to be around “three feet in diameter.”

He also said that the vehicle appeared to be in motion when it was struck because the engine was running and the transmission was in drive when rescue teams approached.

“I think it was a matter of the tree root system had failed and the tree came down” Tennant told local reporters. He said that he did not believe it was a slide but rather a cause of saturated grounds because of the rain.

“All of us at WYFF News 4 are grieving. We are a family and we thank you, our extended family, for your comfort as we mourn and as we seek to comfort the families of Mike and Aaron,” the station said.

Tennant said he was also “personally” affected by the deaths because he had been interviewed by McCormick only 10 mins before he and his co-worker were struck and killed by the falling tree.

“It’s the first time I met either one of the two gentlemen but you feel a sense of responsibility toward them,” Tennant said.

The first named storm of the 2018 hurricane season made landfall late Monday on the Florida panhandle, bringing heavy rainfall and strong winds to the coastal area normally packed with Memorial Day crowds.The National Hurricane Center said in its 5 p.m. ET advisory that Subtropical Storm Alberto had top sustained winds of 45 mph, and made landfall near Laguna Beach in the Florida panhandle.

McCormick, originally from Arkansas, joined the NBC affiliate station in 2007 as a reporter after years in the industry. He became an anchor in 2014.

Smeltzer, originally from Virginia, joined WYFFs team only a few months ago, in February.

Tennant says that the North Carolina State Highway Patrol will be leading the investigation going forward.</s>A television reporter and anchor from St. Petersburg, Florida working in North Carolina was killed in a freak accident during a storm spawned by Tropical Storm Alberto.

‘WYFF News 4’ Anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were killed yesterday in Polk County, North Carolina when a tree fell on their SUV.

It happened just after McCormick interviewed Tryon, North Carolina Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant.

The local fire chief says Alberto wasn’t solely to blame as the roots of the 3-foot diameter tree were loosened in ground saturated by a week’s worth of rain.

The station said everyone there is grieving and thanked everyone for their comfort. The area is under flood watch from storms stemming from moisture pushed up from subtropical storm Alberto.

The post Reporter From Florida Killed After Tree Falls on Vehicle During Alberto appeared first on 850 WFTL.</s>(Reuters) - Alberto, the first storm of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season, spawned scattered flooding in Alabama as it weakened into a subtropical depression on Tuesday, a day after two journalists were killed in North Carolina when a tree fell on their car.

In Maryland, searchers on Monday found the body of a man swept away when a flash flood triggered by a separate storm tore through the main street of a historic town.

Near hurricane-force winds from Alberto dropped to about 30 miles per hour (48 km per hour) as it lost strength while crossing the Gulf of Mexico and making landfall in the U.S. South, the National Weather Service said.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) canceled coastal warnings and watches for the storm, which spun up days before the formal start of the hurricane season on June 1.

Local media in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle reported scattered flash flooding, downed trees and minor power outages as Alberto rumbled north. About half of Alabama’s 67 counties were under a flash flood watch.

Alberto was forecast to weaken to a “remnant low pressure” system by Tuesday evening as it moves into the Tennessee Valley and then the Ohio Valley, the weather service said.

The NHC warned the storm would dump rains of 2-6 inches (6-15 cm), with up to 12 inches over north Florida and Alabama through Tuesday night. It could deliver up to 6 inches of rain in some areas as it moves toward lower Michigan by Wednesday evening, officials said.

Karen Clark & Co, a risk-modeling firm, on Tuesday estimated the insured losses from Alberto at $50 million.

In Maryland, searchers found the body of Eddison Hermond, 39, who was swept away by a torrent of water in historic Ellicott City on Sunday, the Howard County Police Department said on Twitter.

Hermond was swept up as he tried to help a shop owner who had escaped flood waters with her cat, police said. The flooding was the second time Ellicott City had been devastated by high water in two years.

Two television journalists covering the worsening weather in North Carolina were killed on Monday by a falling tree that struck their car. Anchor Mike McCormick and camera operator Aaron Smeltzer from Greenville, South Carolina’s, WYFF News were on Highway 176 when the tree came down after heavy rains saturated the ground, police said.

After Alberto’s passage, Royal Dutch Shell Plc was sending workers back to the eastern Gulf of Mexico and Chevron Corp restored some production on Monday.

Four deadly hurricanes struck the United States last year, killing at least 144 people and causing billions of dollars in damage, massive power outages and devastating hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, according to the NHC.</s>(Reuters) - Alberto, the first storm of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season, spawned scattered flooding in Alabama as it weakened into a subtropical depression on Tuesday, a day after two journalists were killed in North Carolina when a tree fell on their car.

In Maryland, searchers on Monday found the body of a man swept away when a flash flood triggered by a separate storm tore through the main street of a historic town.

Near hurricane-force winds from Alberto dropped to about 30 miles per hour (48 km per hour) as it lost strength while crossing the Gulf of Mexico and making landfall in the U.S. South, the National Weather Service said.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) canceled coastal warnings and watches for the storm, which spun up days before the formal start of the hurricane season on June 1.

Local media in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle reported scattered flash flooding, downed trees and minor power outages as Alberto rumbled north. About half of Alabama’s 67 counties were under a flash flood watch.

Alberto was forecast to weaken to a “remnant low pressure” system by Tuesday evening as it moves into the Tennessee Valley and then the Ohio Valley, the weather service said.

The NHC warned the storm would dump rains of 2-6 inches (6-15 cm), with up to 12 inches over north Florida and Alabama through Tuesday night. It could deliver up to 6 inches of rain in some areas as it moves toward lower Michigan by Wednesday evening, officials said.

Karen Clark & Co, a risk-modeling firm, on Tuesday estimated the insured losses from Alberto at $50 million.

In Maryland, searchers found the body of Eddison Hermond, 39, who was swept away by a torrent of water in historic Ellicott City on Sunday, the Howard County Police Department said on Twitter.

Hermond was swept up as he tried to help a shop owner who had escaped flood waters with her cat, police said. The flooding was the second time Ellicott City had been devastated by high water in two years.

Two television journalists covering the worsening weather in North Carolina were killed on Monday by a falling tree that struck their car. Anchor Mike McCormick and camera operator Aaron Smeltzer from Greenville, South Carolina’s, WYFF News were on Highway 176 when the tree came down after heavy rains saturated the ground, police said.

After Alberto’s passage, Royal Dutch Shell Plc was sending workers back to the eastern Gulf of Mexico and Chevron Corp restored some production on Monday.

Four deadly hurricanes struck the United States last year, killing at least 144 people and causing billions of dollars in damage, massive power outages and devastating hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, according to the NHC.</s>Image copyright WYFF Image caption News channel WYFF 4 paid tribute to its two journalists

Two journalists were killed in a "freak of nature" accident while covering weather conditions in North Carolina during storm Alberto.

Mike McCormick and Aaron Smeltzer, from news outlet WYFF, died when a falling tree crushed their car as they drove down a highway.

Fire chief Geoff Tennant had recorded an interview with the pair minutes before he received the emergency call.

He said they had each exchanged wishes to stay safe just 10 minutes earlier.

Mr McCormick was a reporter and anchor, and Mr Smeltzer was a photojournalist. Both were on assignment covering the extreme weather.

The tree, Mr Tennant said, "probably fell in excess of 30 feet".

While the deaths of the two journalists are not being directly attributed to the storm itself, the heavy rainfall had waterlogged the soil, probably contributing to the tree's fall.

"It is one of those things you know is going to happen, or you can predict it may happen - you don't know when," Mr Tennant said.

He said the death of both men has "personally affected me", and that although it was his first meeting with Mr McCormick and Mr Smeltzer, "you feel a sense of responsibility for them".

The news station which employed both men paid tribute to them in its reporting.

"Our news family grieves over the loss of two special journalists - and two special friends," news anchor Carol Goldsmith said as she reported the news on WYFF 4's evening news.

Mr McCormick was an anchor and reporter covering the Spartanburg area with more than a decade's experience in the role.

Mr Smeltzer had joined WYFF this year from local competitor station WSPA.

In their own story on the tragedy, WSPA 7's anchors said: "The journalists who died in today's crash were friends to many of us.

"They were committed to their work, to this community, and while we are of course competitors on air, Mike and Aaron were our friends and they were part of our larger journalism family.

"We will miss them both terribly."

Viewers also sent in their messages of sympathy after the news was broadcast.

Subtropical storm Alberto is the first named Atlantic storm of 2018. It made landfall on Florida's north-western coast on Monday, which was also the Memorial Day holiday in the United States.

It has since weakened to a subtropical depression, with maximum winds of 35 mph (55km/h) and sustained heavy rainfall, the US National Hurricane Centre said.</s>Tryon, North Carolina: A TV anchor and his photojournalist were killed when a tree fell on their vehicle in North Carolina as they worked to report on subtropical storm Alberto.

WYFF News 4 anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were on a highway reporting on the flooding and several weather wiped up by Alberto on the US east coast, when the tree roots gave way.

A fire chief in North Carolina says he spoke to the pair 10 minutes before they were struck and killed by the falling tree.

Tryon Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant's voice broke as he talked about recognising the WYFF-TV vehicle under the large tree and the two men dead inside.</s>May 29 (Reuters) - Alberto, the first storm of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season, spawned scattered flooding in Alabama as it weakened into a subtropical depression on Tuesday, a day after two journalists were killed in North Carolina when a tree fell on their car.

In Maryland, searchers on Monday found the body of a man swept away when a flash flood triggered by a separate storm tore through the main street of a historic town.

Near hurricane-force winds from Alberto dropped to about 30 miles per hour (48 km per hour) as it lost strength while crossing the Gulf of Mexico and making landfall in the U.S. South, the National Weather Service said.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) canceled coastal warnings and watches for the storm, which spun up days before the formal start of the hurricane season on June 1.

Local media in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle reported scattered flash flooding, downed trees and minor power outages as Alberto rumbled north. About half of Alabama's 67 counties were under a flash flood watch.

Alberto was forecast to weaken to a "remnant low pressure" system by Tuesday evening as it moves into the Tennessee Valley and then the Ohio Valley, the weather service said.

The NHC warned the storm would dump rains of 2-6 inches (6-15 cm), with up to 12 inches over north Florida and Alabama through Tuesday night. It could deliver up to 6 inches of rain in some areas as it moves toward lower Michigan by Wednesday evening, officials said.

Karen Clark & Co, a risk-modeling firm, on Tuesday estimated the insured losses from Alberto at $50 million.

In Maryland, searchers found the body of Eddison Hermond, 39, who was swept away by a torrent of water in historic Ellicott City on Sunday, the Howard County Police Department said on Twitter.

Hermond was swept up as he tried to help a shop owner who had escaped flood waters with her cat, police said. The flooding was the second time Ellicott City had been devastated by high water in two years.

Two television journalists covering the worsening weather in North Carolina were killed on Monday by a falling tree that struck their car. Anchor Mike McCormick and camera operator Aaron Smeltzer from Greenville, South Carolina's, WYFF News were on Highway 176 when the tree came down after heavy rains saturated the ground, police said.

After Alberto's passage, Royal Dutch Shell Plc was sending workers back to the eastern Gulf of Mexico and Chevron Corp restored some production on Monday.

Four deadly hurricanes struck the United States last year, killing at least 144 people and causing billions of dollars in damage, massive power outages and devastating hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, according to the NHC. (Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta and Ian Simpson in Washington; Additional reporting by Ian Simpson and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Scott Malone, Jeffrey Benkoe and Tom Brown)</s>A local news anchor and photojournalist from Greenville, South Carolina, died Monday while covering subtropical storm Alberto when a tree fell on their news vehicle, crushing it and trapping them inside, according to authorities and the television station, WYFF.

WYFF broke the news on the air during its 6 p.m. broadcast.

“Tonight,” WYFF anchor Carol Goldsmith began, “our news family grieves over the loss of two special journalists and two special friends.”

The anchor, Michael McCormick, and photojournalist, Aaron Smeltzer, were travelling on Highway 176 in Polk County, North Carolina, about 30 miles north of Greenville, when the tree fell about 30 feet onto their SUV, said Tryon Fire Department Chief Geoffrey Tennant. The vehicle was apparently in motion at the time the tree fell on it, Tennant said, because when the fire department arrived on scene, the transmission was running and the vehicle was still in drive.

Tennant told a room full of reporters that he didn’t know the reporters personally – but he met them for the first time just 10 or 15 minutes before the 911 call came over the dispatch. They were interviewing him as part of their storm coverage, he said.

“We talked a little bit about how he wanted us to stay safe, and we wanted him to stay safe,” Tennant said of McCormick. “Then of course, 10, 15 minutes later we get the call, and it was him and his photographer.”

Tennant noted that the ground has been saturated from recent torrential rainfall due to the storm, possibly causing the tree to fall. The exact cause of death has not been released.

“I have never seen an event like this one,” he told reporters. “It is a freak of nature. It’s one of those things that you know it’s going to happen, or you can predict it may happen – you just don’t know when.”

The potential for flash floods and mudslides in Polk County had been forecast as severe enough that emergency management officials issued a voluntary evacuation Sunday night. There had also recently been a mudslide in the area.

Alberto made landfall in Laguna Beach, Florida, as a subtropical storm and ripped through the southeastern United States with peak winds of 65 miles per hour. The National Weather Service downgraded it to a subtropical depression on Monday night, but the threat of heavy rain remained.

In a statement, WYFF described McCormick and Smeltzer as dedicated journalists. McCormick began as a reporter for WYFF in 2007 at the station’s sister newsroom in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and became a weekend anchor for the station in 2014. Smeltzer began with the station earlier this year.

“Mike and Aaron were stellar journalists, dedicated to covering news in this market,” John Humphries, WYFF president and general manager, said in the statement. “They were beloved members of our newsroom and we will miss them tremendously. Today is a difficult day, and there will be many more ahead.”</s>Two journalists in North Carolina died Monday when a tree fell onto their SUV, WYFF-TV reports. The Greenville, South Carolina-based station announced that their anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were both covering the impact of rain in Polk County when the incident took place.

WYFF-TV said McCormick joined the station this year but covered the local news for more than a decade. They said Smeltzer joined the newsroom in 2007 as a reporter. In 2014, he became the channel's Sunday evening anchor.

"All of us at WYFF News 4 are grieving. We are a family and we thank you, our extended family, for your comfort as we mourn and as we seek to comfort the families of Mike and Aaron," the station said.

The tree fell in the same county where a landslide killed a woman inside her home on May 19, the Associated Press reports.

Anchor Carol Goldsmith said on air that McCormick and Smeltzer were "beloved members of our team — our family."</s>(Reuters) - A television news anchor and a camera operator were killed on Monday when a tree in North Carolina fell on their vehicle as they were covering the effects of a rainstorm in Polk County, officials said.

WYFF News anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer of the NBC affiliate in Greenville, South Carolina, died after the tree hit their sport utility vehicle on a highway, the station reported.

Tryon Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant said he had just given an interview to McCormick when, minutes later, he received a call about the incident. He arrived to discover the victims were the two men he had just met.

“It personally affected me a little bit because I had done an interview with Mr. McCormick about 10 minutes before we got the call, and we had talked a little bit about how he wanted us to stay safe and how we wanted him to stay safe,” Tennant told reporters.

The ground was saturated from the rain, and a large tree about 3 feet (1 m) in diameter fell on the journalists’ SUV, apparently as it was driving along Highway 176, Tennant said. When first responders arrived, the engine was running and the transmission was in drive, Tennant said.

“It is a freak of nature,” Tennant said. “I think it was a matter of the tree root system had failed and the tree came down.”

McCormick had been with the station since 2007, first as a reporter and later as anchor of two Sunday broadcasts, WYFF said. Smeltzer joined the station in February of this year. Both were born in 1982.

Polk County is about 90 miles (145 km) west of Charlotte.
Two WYFF journalists, Mike McCormick and Aaron Smeltzer, are killed after a tree crushes their car as they covered the storm in North Carolina, United States.