Overcomed With Emotion

Weatherman Who Broke Down Reporting Joplin Tornado Joins Anderson Cooper Live

by Frances Martel | 11:28 pm, May 23rd, 2011

Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Bettes, who broke down in tears while reporting on the post-tornado devastation in Joplin, Missouri joined Anderson Cooper on location to describe the scene as he arrived there. As one of the first reporter crews on the ground in Joplin, Bettes watched the storm evolve from a thunderstorm of moderate strength to the most devastating tornado in fifty years.

“At the time, it didn’t look that impressive,” Bettes told Cooper, whose crew had spotted the storm and were headed toward it but stopped short of being directly in the eye of it. Describing it as a a strong thunderstorm at first, he said it later consumed an amazing chunk of the town. “I’ve seen damage like this before, but not to this extent,” he confessed, noting that the destruction goes on for blocks and blocks.

He also spoke to the emotional impact of the destruction and watching families find each other and hug, pray, and help each other cope with the disaster, and predicted the weather would continue somewhat stormy for the rest of the week.

The segment via CNN below:

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Weather Channel’s Mike Bettes Overcome With Emotion Covering Tornado Devastation