Ian and the Condom

Hurricane Ian tore across Florida, USA – a monstrous Category 4 hurricane and one of the strongest storms ever to hit the country. 

Photos and videos on social media showed the scenes of devastation: Orlando inundated by floodwaters, boats wrecked in Fort Myers, trees snapped like toothpicks in Punta Gorda. Part of the Sanibel Causeway was destroyed, blocking vehicles from crossing the bridge. 

Ian left an estimated 2.67 million customers without power as of Thursday afternoon. A number of hospitals had no water, and thousands of residents were trapped in their homes. At least 14 people were reported dead in counties across the state, a number that's expected to rise significantly. 

I am doing this post on Ian only because of the accompanying story below. 

As local journalists covered rescue efforts in the wake of Hurricane Ian, Florida television viewers found comic relief in a viral post featuring a local reporter. 

On Wednesday, NBC-2 reporter Kyla Galer made headlines when residents questioned whether or not she'd placed a condom over her microphone while covering the storm ahead of its landfall. 

Of course, she felt obligated to set the record straight.

“A lot of people are asking what is on my microphone. It is what you think it is”, Galer wrote on her Instagram stories. “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”. 

ABC7 news anchor Jeff Butera chimed in on the issue in support of his colleague.

“Yes, it's a condom”, Butera tweeted alongside an image of Galer’s hand holding her mic. "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…”. 

Ian is now reportedly heading northward toward South Carolina.