We lost one of our better weathermen in February. He left because of the emotional strain of the hurricanes.
In 2004, after taking 3 hits, and then Ivan was tracked to hit us as a Cat-5, he lost it. He broke into tears, said, "I can't do this anymore" and walked off for a while. He had spent about six weeks straight weeks in the studio, broadcasting to people sitting in the dark, listening on radios, calling in on cell phones, asking questions - many desperate and in a panic -trying to survive. There was no food, no gas, no shelters, and hundreds of thousands shattered houses, and everyone was asking him to solve everything. No shame - that would be tough on anyone, and he went above and beyond until he broke. I think he did an exceptional job under the most difficult of circumstances.
In one of the senior communities, the people had been shut in a dark building without food or water for 10 days before help arrived. Red Cross was being blocked by one of our state congressmen, Irv Slosberg, who wanted to provide the ice, water and food himself in a photo-op for his "
Slosberg Emergency Management Aid" - his own FEMA replacement. He was soon voted out in an overwhelming defeat - I not sure even he vote for himself. It was our weatherman that finally found out the cause of the problem and got camera over there so Slosberg would deliver the assistance.
