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American meteorologist Dylan Federico was bashed online for posting a video of a cat stranded amid Hurricane Ian.
As per Newsweek, Federico, who works for WINK-TV, posted a short clip of a small, dark-colored feline standing atop a bench surrounded by rushing waters outside his building as the hurricane reached landfall on September 28.
In a since-deleted video, he stated that the building doors were locked, but he was trying to save the kitten. In a follow-up post, the journalist said that before he and his teammates could save the kitten and bring her inside, it swam away.
Twitter was not happy with Dylan Federico's Hurricane Ian reportage
After Federico posted a video of a stranded cat in Hurricane Ian, Twitter users slammed him for filming instead of saving the animal. Several users also bashed WINK-TV for hiring Federico and his co-anchors. Others pointed out how he could have saved the feline but could not risk doing so because of his shoes.
Dylan Federico was defended online amidst the backlash
After Dylan Federico received immense backlash for his video, news station KMEG's meteorologist Katie Nickolaou came to respond to Twitter users and defend him online.
She tweeted:
As per Wink News website, Dylan is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Atmospheric Science from Mississippi State University.
He joined the news station in July 2020 before serving as the Weekend Meteorologist on Georgia's WTVM.
Hurricane Ian has been dubbed one of the most powerful hurricanes in the country. So far, it has destroyed several buildings and flooded roads while knocking out over two million people.
Due to the hurricane, Florida saw at least two deaths, drowning of a ship in a river, as well as powercuts affecting thousands of people.
Now being placed as a Category 4 storm, Hurricane Ian hit Florida on September 28 at 3:05 pm near Cayo Costa, as per the US National Hurricane Center. The wind speed recorded by the Hurricane is about 150 miles per hour, which, on a Saffir-Simpson scale, would put it just behind a Category 5 position.
Fort Myers imposed a curfew beginning at 6 pm on the night of September 28 in anticipation of storm surge flooding of more than 7 feet, which The Weather Channel described as "record-breaking" for the city.
Air Force storm hunters said that Hurricane Ian acquired terrible intensity over warm Gulf of Mexico waters after destroying the island of Cuba.
As per Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, this Hurricane will be one of the top five storms to reach the Florida peninsula following Hurricanes Andrew (1992) and Michael (2018).
The mayor of Tampa, Jane Castor, has asked residents to stay put during the night and into the morning of September 29, 2022.
"We are going to get the majority of the rain and the higher winds starting about 20:00, and they are going to last throughout the night."
Hurricane Ian is presently making his way north via Florida. On September 29, 2022, Jacksonville International Airport in northeast Florida canceled all flights.
