A reporter in the Washington DC area called his family to warn them of a looming tornado headed toward their home in the middle of his broadcast.
On Thursday night, NBC Washington Chief Meteorologist Doug Kammerer was on air at about 8:45 PM doing a weather report. When the National Weather Service (NWS) issued the storm warning, he realized that the tornado's path was right over his house.
Calling his family
As per NBC News, Kammerer was reporting about a storm on-air. When he saw the video on track of the storm, he said it was going straight to his house. He then started dialing a cellphone to call his son.
He asked his son if he was at home. He then calmly asked his son to go to the basement as they had a tornado warning. He asked his son and sibling to get down to the basement as soon as possible.
Kenton can be heard on-air responding to his dad, "Right now?"
Kammerer responded that he should get down to the basement right now. He then told him to get down in the basement bedroom and wait for 10 to 15 minutes.
Kammerer resumed his broadcast after hanging up the phone.
He then told the audience he needed to warn his kids because they might be online gaming now and not listening to the news.
A few minutes after he returned to the air, the NWS canceled the tornado warning.
No damage from the storm
James Morrow, a meteorologist working for NWS headquarters in Silver Spring, watched Kammerer on air.
According to him, the decision to cut in during broadcast and for the meteorologist to ask permission to call while on air is not easy for stations. As a viewer and a scientist who understands the risk of tornadic storms, he said it was heartening to see this type of coverage, NPR reports.
NBC Washington shared the clip Friday morning on its Instagram Page, and viewers had good things to say about Kammerer.
Someone commented that he was so calm. Another person praised him for being a good parent.
Kammerer was glad that no one was hurt in the tornado. He told Today that he noticed that his house was right in the tornado's path when he was zooming on the radar. He said he became concerned as his kids were home alone, and he knew they would not be paying attention to the warning.
AS he was live on air, he was "debating" in his head if he should call them while on TV. He then realized he had to make the call, thinking he had to protect his kids.
He was grateful that no one was injured due to the tornado and that his family was safe.
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