Remember when CNN anchor Anderson Cooper made a fool of himself by standing in “flood waters” up to his waist during Hurricane Ike in 2008? A bystander snapped photos of Cooper’s crew standing in a couple of inches of water – and a viral meme was born.
On Sunday, Jim Cantore, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel, went viral while covering Hurricane Ida as it slammed into Louisiana with 150 mph winds.
Cantore leaned into “heavy winds” and appeared to stumble and lose his balance several times during his live remote.
As he dramatically braced himself against the hurricane force winds, a guy cartwheeled behind him.
Jim Cantore in a helmet & a guy doing a cartwheel.
Weird times. pic.twitter.com/XjRrUuvon4— Brian Shields, WFTV (@BrianWFTV) August 29, 2021
Twitter users rated the cartwheel a gold medal performance.
One Twitter user wrote:
“Jim and the weather channel has turned storms to sensationalism for their network in the last 10 years..”
Another user tweeted: “this is why people don’t trust the weathermen.”
And a third person wrote: “Jim is the dr. Fauci of weather.”
In more serious news, Hurricane Ida left a path of destruction along the Gulf Coast. More than 1 million residents are out of power in New Orleans after Hurricane Ida made landfall Sunday night.
Ida knocked out power in Louisiana and Mississippi and, according to estimates, the power could be out for 6 weeks or more.
High winds and flooding destroyed multiple buildings. A 60-year-old man was reportedly killed when a building collapsed on him.
Hurricane Ida was quickly downgraded to a tropical storm over southwestern Mississippi by Monday morning.
About 95% of oil and gas production in the Gulf Coast was shut down and gas prices are expected to rise in the area.
If you want to donate to recovery efforts, New Orleans officials recommend donating to United Way of Southeast Louisiana and The Greater New Orleans Foundation.
The American Red Cross said they have opened dozens of shelters across the state.
You can donate to the Red Cross here.
More organizations accepting donations are listed below.
