Fort Myers TV Station Continues Reporting Even After Hurricane Ian Flooded Its Studio & Forced It Off Air

deadline.com:

A Fort Myers TV station continued to provide reports on social media and other platforms about the extent of damage from Hurricane Ian — which made landfall as a Cat.

4 storm on a nearby barrier island — even after Ian’s destruction 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 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.