Get email updates with the day's biggest stories Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice A weatherman was caught out exaggerating the extreme wind while filming a piece to camera in the heart of Storm Florence. Florence plowed into the Carolinas and lumbered slowly inland on Friday, knocking down trees, gorging rivers, dumping sheets of rain and leaving five people dead before it was downgraded to a tropical storm still capable of wreaking havoc. The Weather Channel's Mike Seidel was filming a piece to camera regarding the tropical storm and appeared to be struggling to stand his ground such was the ferocity of the wind. "This is about as nasty as its been," said Seidel in video captured by different viewers. But eagle-eyed viewers noticed something behind him which appeared to show he was exaggerating. Two men calmly walk in the background, apparently unaffected by the "strong" winds. In a matter of a few hours, the video on Facebook was seen more than four million times. A statement provided by the Weather Channel said: “It’s important to note that the two individuals in the background are walking on concrete, and Mike Seidel is trying to maintain his footing on wet grass, after reporting on-air until 1am this morning and is undoubtedly exhausted.” Though Florence's shrieking winds diminished from hurricane force as it came ashore, forecasters said the sheer size of the 350-mile-wide storm and its painfully slow progress across North and South Carolina in the coming days could leave much of the region under water. The dead included a mother and baby who were killed when a tree fell on their home in Wilmington, North Carolina. (Image: AFP) The child's injured father was taken to a hospital. In the state's Pender County, a woman died of a heart attack; paramedics trying to reach her were blocked by debris. Two people died in Lenoir County. A 78-year-old man was electrocuted attempting to connect extension cords while another man perished when he was blown down by high winds while checking on his hunting dogs , a county spokesman said. In New Bern, North Carolina, the storm surge overwhelmed the town of 30,000, located at the confluence of the Neuse and Trent rivers. Jay Manning said he and his wife watched with alarm as water filled the street. (Image: Getty Images North America) (Image: REX/Shutterstock) "We moved all the furniture up in case the water comes in but the water seems to be staying at the edge of the driveway,'' he said, adding that if the wind picks up and the rain keeps coming, that could change. "My wife's in a panic right now.'' Florence had been a Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale with 120-mph winds as of Thursday, but dropped to a Category 1 hurricane before coming ashore near Wrightsville Beach close to Wilmington.<doc-sep>A North Carolina weatherman who remained at his post to provide live updates on Hurricane Florence was forced to evacuate mid-broadcast as the TV station began to flood. As the Category 1 hurricane bore down on the Carolinas on Thursday, WCTI meteorologists Donnie Cox and Shane Hinton continued to oversee coverage of the storm for the city of New Bern. However, as water built up around the building, Hinton and then Cox were forced to make their exits. The eerie final moments of the station’s footage show Cox announcing that a sister station in Myrtle Beach would take over the coverage before walking out of the frame, leaving just the radar loop of Florence playing in the background. “We have the situation that has developed here at the station, and that is that the water [is] getting [so] close to the building that the building has been evacuated,” Cox said in a video posted to Twitter Thursday night. “Just so you know that we are staying here to keep you up to date.” Get The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. Please enter a valid email address. * The request timed out and you did not successfully sign up. Please attempt to sign up again. Sign Up Now An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Please try again later. Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder. Write to Megan McCluskey at megan.mccluskey@time.com.<doc-sep>One of the bastions of ‘the funny internet video’ is the struggling weather reporter. It never gets old, it will always be funny - people having a real tough time of it in adverse weather conditions is - and we don’t say this lightly - always, always, always funny. Like: Or this absolute classic: Love it, absolutely love it. And we’ve got another great one for ya today - a fun bit of weather-related silliness to start off your week, involving a big fat liar and a big fat hurricane. Here we gooooooo: YOU GREAT FIBBER! It’s not that windy! Look at those people behind, you sodding old lie-bag! Still, the channel released a statement, which is - as expected - a large slice of nonsense: “It’s important to note that the two individuals in the background are walking on concrete, and Mike Seidel is trying to maintain his footing on wet grass, after reporting on-air until 1:00 a.m. ET this morning and is undoubtedly exhausted.” Nice try! Despite Mike’s exaggerations, the Hurricane has battered the Carolinas, causing heavy flooding in many coastal areas, while US President Donald Trump has declared a disaster in several North Carolina counties. Mind you, with the President’s record for truthfulness, can you image how dramatic he’d have made that weather forecast? Get our best stories, delivered daily for free Get exclusive shortlists, celebrity interviews and the best deals on the products you care about, straight to your inbox. Sign up (Image: Getty)<doc-sep>Donnie Cox later appeared by himself to tell viewers that the station was handing off its broadcast. A local television station in North Carolina was in the middle of its nightly broadcast Thursday when two of the station's anchors, chief meteorologist Donnie Cox and weatherman Shane Hinton, gave viewers an urgent update as an image of Hurricane Florence swirled over a map behind them. "We have a situation that has developed here, at the station, and that is that the water is getting close to the building, that the building has been evacuated," Cox said. "We are staying here to keep you up to date." The station, WCTI, is based in New Bern. The town of 30,000 is bordered by two rivers and was hit hard by Florence. Heavy rain and winds caused water levels around the town to rise 10 feet, flooding the downtown and requiring the rescue of many residents who had not heeded the county's mandatory evacuation orders. Ashley Pratt, another meteorologist at WCTI, tweeted a video that showed water pooling outside the station around 7 p.m. And sometime later, Cox appeared by himself on the broadcast to tell viewers that the station was handing off its broadcast. "Because of the rising waters, we're going to take you to the coverage of our sister station in Myrtle Beach," Cox said, before walking off the set, leaving an empty frame on the broadcast as the weather graphic continued to pulse silently. The story was first reported by the Weather Channel. "So that really did just happen. The water started rising and we evacuated almost an entire TV station in about 15 minutes," anchor Jaime McCutcheon tweeted around 8 p.m. The station later tweeted, "Little rough, but we're all out." Hinton tweeted images of the flooded station Friday. "Many have heard that we sadly had to evacuate our station last night due to the floods in New Bern," he wrote. "While [Donnie Cox] and I stayed as long as we could, we ultimately had to evacuate as well before things became unsafe. I hope we did not let you down. We truly gave it our all."<doc-sep>
As Hurricane Florence continues to wreak havoc on the Carolinas, weather people and storm chasers are heading as close as they can to the eye of the storm without putting themselves in danger. One such meteorologist was caught on camera bracing for the storm ... a little too intensely. In the video shared by Twitter user @gourdnibler, two men can be seen walking at a comfortable and relaxed pace behind Mike Seidel from the Weather Channel battling what one can only assume are ferocious winds. So dramatic! Dude from the weather channel bracing for his life, as 2 dudes just stroll past. #HurricaneFlorence pic.twitter.com/8FRyM4NLbL — Tony scar. (@gourdnibler) September 14, 2018 Others also were able to snag the moment from TV. SEE ALSO: Florida Man is back with heavy metal and an American Flag to face Hurricane Florence It's unclear if the weatherman has the density of a cream cracker or is faking the wind's severity for compelling storm footage. Regardless, this guy probably needs to cool it with his Hurricane coverage. UPDATE: Sept. 14, 2018, 3:36 p.m. PDT The Weather Channel issued the following statement to BuzzFeed: “It’s important to note that the two individuals in the background are walking on concrete, and Mike Seidel is trying to maintain his footing on wet grass, after reporting on-air until 1:00 a.m. ET this morning and is undoubtedly exhausted.” While the wind from Florence will surely cause some destruction, the real threat is from rainfall, so this guy laying it on thick makes this whole thing a little extra ridiculous. More Hurricane Florence coverage: