Stewart Perrie
A reporter in Florida has explained why she chose a rather bizarre piece of protection to shield her equipment from Hurricane Ian.
The Category Four storm system has slammed into America's Sunshine State and it is packing one hell of a punch.
National Hurricane Centre has warned of 'life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic winds and flooding in the Florida Peninsula' with millions under evacuation orders.
Journalists are out in all the hotspots to cover the massive storm and they're fighting the elements to ensure them, their crew and their stuff don't get damaged.
Advert
One of those is NBC2’s Kyla Galer, who chucked a condom over her microphone during her coverage.
The reporter got a lot of enquiries about what was covering her device and she took to social media to explain the odd protection option.
"A lot of people are asking what is on my microphone,” she said.
“It is what you think it is. It’s a condom. It helps protect the gear.
"You can’t get these mics wet. There’s a lot of wind and a lot of rain, so we gotta do what we gotta do and that is put a condom on the microphone.”
To be fair, we use condoms during sex and they're up to 98 per cent effective in stopping a certain kind of liquid from getting to the other side, so it's a pretty ingenious hack.
Her colleague, ABC7’s Jeff Butera, backed her up for using a condom to cover her microphone.
He took to Twitter to say: "WE PRACTICE SAFE HURRICANE REPORTING. Yes, it’s a condom
“Nothing better to waterproof a microphone. My Waterman Broadcasting colleague @kylagaler has been fielding lots of questions, haha. Moment of levity in this nasty storm."
But there's no denying the people who are covering Hurricane Ian need all the protection they can get.
NBC reports that mandatory curfews have been issued for Fort Myers as Hurricane Ian batters the coastal city.
Fort Myers Police said on Twitter: "The City of Fort Myers has issued an emergency citywide curfew to protect and safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of residents, visitors, and first responders. The curfew will be in effect, beginning at 6pm for the next 48 hours."
Neighbouring Collier County will also face a curfew from 10pm local time on Wednesday (September 28) and will remain in effect through to Thursday (September 29) at 6am.
First responders and staff at hospitals and other essential businesses are exempt as the costal regions battens down for a rough night of weathering the storm.
Hurricane Ian made its initial landfall at 3:05pm local time at Cayo Costa, Florida.