Fort Myers TV Station Continues Reports Even After Hurricane Ian Damage Forced It Off Air – Deadline

A Fort Myers TV station continued to provide reports on social media and other platforms about the extent of damage from Hurricane Ian even after the destruction from the storm forced it off the air.

WINK-TV, a CBS affiliate owned by Fort Myers Broadcasting Company, was able to broadcast from its studios on Wednesday after power failure and after its studios flooded.

“The station that you rely on is doing all that they can to get back to full power,” news anchor Lois Thome said in a message posted on Facebook on Thursday.

The night before, the station lost power just before 5 PM, as the hurricane was still making its way across the southwest areas of the state. Thome, Chris Cifatte and Matt Devitt, its chief meteorologist, continued to the newscast on Facebook for a time.

But Thome said on Facebook that the station’s offices were “not a place we can work right now.”

Devitt posted pictures of WINK’s flooded first floor.

The staff for a time evacuated to the second floor, but meteorologist Dylan Federico said on Twitter that emergency personnel evacuated the staff from the building early on Thursday morning.

Deavitt and other WINK reporters continued to provide updates on Thursday and Friday.

Federico wrote on Twitter, “The situation in Fort Myers is terrible. Most without power. No running water. Smells like sewage from pipes overflowing. Also smells like gasoline from boats floating into town during storm surge. Debris everywhere. Uninhabitable.”

He also posted before and after photos of Fort Myers Beach.