Texas TV stations sitting under a stalled Tropical Storm Harvey are using Facebook, especially Facebook Live, to keep users/viewers informed during this cataclysmic flooding event. Many residents without power can’t watch TV so local television stations must turn to social media to put information in the palms of people’s hands. This picture of a group […]
Texas TV stations sitting under a stalled Tropical Storm Harvey are using Facebook, especially Facebook Live, to keep users/viewers informed during this cataclysmic flooding event.
Many residents without power can’t watch TV so local television stations must turn to social media to put information in the palms of people’s hands.
This picture of a group of woman trapped in water up to their chests in a nursing home was shown on quite a few stations’ Facebook page.
The one woman can be seen calmly knitting. It was reported that shortly after this picture was taken, the women were rescued and taken to the hospital.
For those of us outside the state, CNN was one of the few cable channels offering continuous coverage and at times, it was powerfully riveting and deeply sad.
In a surreal story, played out live on TV, a CNN crew riding in a volunteer’s boat were hailed by a lady trapped inside an apartment building with her elderly parents.
The boat parked at the door, the volunteer driver standing with his arms crossed in water up to his chest, like some patient Uber driver picking up a fare.
Eventually, an elderly man with a cane made his way out the door, and without saying a word, was helped into the boat.
Turning to my Facebook feed, I saw a post from Dale Lockett, KHOU’s creative services director, showing water pouring into a door of his station. Apparently, the station was off the hours for some time due to flooding, even though they had flood gates around the building to prevent just that.
KHOU is Houston’s CBS affiliate owned by Tegna.
Kristie Gonzales, KVUE’s general manager, posted this video of a man trying to catch a fish in his flooded house.
KVUE is Austin’s ABC affiliate owned by Tegna.
NOTE: To friends and colleagues working at TV stations in Texas, if there is anything we can do to help, please let me know. Call me directly at 817-578-6324 or [email protected].
Announcements, requests for help, stories you want to share, whatever, think of my column as a clearinghouse of information to reach other TV news people across the country.
Here are more examples of the flood coverage from Texas TV stations found on their Facebook page:
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