Water Floods News Station During Broadcast About Severe Weather (2024)

Illinois viewers watched a news broadcast late Sunday night when a local broadcast station aired a segment on severe weather while heavy rains flooded the studio.

Strong thunderstorms hit central Illinois with hail as large as a hen's eggs, lightning and heavy rains. The National Weather Service (NWS) in Lincoln, Illinois, shared a slew of tweets that warned area residents about possible flash floods from pummeling rains and threats of "a tornado or two." The NWS advised residents to "be prepared to seek immediate shelter."

WCIA, a Champaign-based broadcast channel serving the central Illinois area, shared storm footage in a very literal way as studio staff waded through water reaching their ankles.

"There's literally a lake. There's a lake that's in the studio right now because of all of the heavy rainfall here that kind of came in," meteorologist Kevin Lighty said on the air during the late Sunday night broadcast.

Lighty paused the broadcast as staff moved furniture and equipment out of the flood's reach.

"Sorry, guys. Oh, goodness. Oh goodness, yeah, OK," he said. "Well, our water is still coming in here and it's even worse in the back."

Lighty went on to explain that there were "several inches" of water in the studio. Then, viewers heard Lighty ask someone off screen, "Is it in the newsroom?"

Lighty came back to share that the flooding was dispersed throughout the studio, including the newsroom and the control room.

"I can't believe we are still able to do what we're doing here right now," he said.

Lighty said online stream footage was disrupted by the floods but television footage was still available. The segment shared clips of staff traipsing through water in the newsroom and other areas of the studio.

"Oh goodness, what a mess we are dealing with here," Lighty said. "We are still broadcasting here with you guys. We want to bring you the best coverage we can here."

Lighty told Newsweek the flooding happened very fast.

"I was on the air and looked to my right and see water come in and thought, 'Who spilled a drink?' And it just kept coming," he said.

After the floods, Lighty told Newsweek that the water was roughly an inch from damaging critical equipment.

"One more inch of water, which equates to about 15 minutes of heavy rainfall, we would have been off air immediately and that would have ruined some really big-time equipment that probably would have kept us off the air for a few weeks," he said.

However, according to the station's chief engineer, the team was never at risk for electrocution as cables weren't reached by the water. While Lighty was on air, other staff members rushed to pick up any equipment from the floor to prevent damage.

On Monday night, Lighty tweeted photos of some of the damage in the newsroom.

"Doing some more assessment from the @WCIA3 studio where we found on our green screen a clear water line around a foot," Lighty tweeted

Lighty also tweeted a video of his colleagues working Monday despite the roar of fans drying the studio.

"Have to give it to my colleagues in the @WCIA3 newsroom who have been working all day with these fans blowing non stop after the flood," Lighty tweeted. "The news doesn't stop, nor do we."

Update 9/20/22, 11:24 a.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from Kevin Lighty.