An 11-year-old girl in Georgia and a Florida Panhandle man were both killed Wednesday when trees crashed into their homes as Hurricane Michael tore through the southeastern U.S.

The girl was killed when a tree fell on her home in Seminole County, which is in the extreme southwest corner of Georgia. Seminole County Emergency Management spokesman Travis Brooks said it happened around 3 p.m. Wednesday. Due to the severity of the storm, responders did not get to the home until the overnight hours.

The Florida man was killed when a tree crashed through his home in Greensboro and trapped him, according to Gadsden County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Anglie Hightower. It happened around 6 p.m. Wednesday. Downed power lines and blocked roads made it hard for emergency responders to get there.

Officials hadn't immediately confirmed the names of the victims. </s> A television reporter and anchor from St. Petersburg, Florida working in North Carolina was killed in a freak accident during a storm spawned by Tropical Storm Alberto.

‘WYFF News 4’ Anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were killed yesterday in Polk County, North Carolina when a tree fell on their SUV.

It happened just after McCormick interviewed Tryon, North Carolina Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant.

The local fire chief says Alberto wasn’t solely to blame as the roots of the 3-foot diameter tree were loosened in ground saturated by a week’s worth of rain.

The station said everyone there is grieving and thanked everyone for their comfort. The area is under flood watch from storms stemming from moisture pushed up from subtropical storm Alberto.

The post Reporter From Florida Killed After Tree Falls on Vehicle During Alberto appeared first on 850 WFTL. </s> SEMINOLE COUNTY, Ga. — An 11-year-old girl killed Wednesday afternoon when Hurricane Michael hit southwest Georgia has been identified by authorities.

According to Seminole County EMA Director Travis Brooks, a tree fell on her grandmother's home in Seminole County around 3 p.m.

The county's coroner identified Sarah Radney as the victim, Thursday. Authorities said she was killed when a portable carport fell on the home when a suspected tornado, associated with the hurricane, swept through.

Brooks said the storm was so bad that crews assessing damage couldn’t make it to the home until after nightfall on Wednesday. He said there were numerous trees down across the county.

11Alive's Ryan Kruger spoke to one neighbor who rode out the storm. He called it the scariest time of his life.

"I've never been in that position before," said Sam Gray. "I'll tell you the truth, I was scared."

The entire neighborhood suffered extensive damage, and they're still processing the emotional damage. </s> (Reuters) - A television news anchor and a camera operator were killed on Monday when a tree in North Carolina fell on their vehicle as they were covering the effects of a rainstorm in Polk County, officials said.

WYFF News anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer of the NBC affiliate in Greenville, South Carolina, died after the tree hit their sport utility vehicle on a highway, the station reported.

Tryon Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant said he had just given an interview to McCormick when, minutes later, he received a call about the incident. He arrived to discover the victims were the two men he had just met.

“It personally affected me a little bit because I had done an interview with Mr. McCormick about 10 minutes before we got the call, and we had talked a little bit about how he wanted us to stay safe and how we wanted him to stay safe,” Tennant told reporters.

The ground was saturated from the rain, and a large tree about 3 feet (1 m) in diameter fell on the journalists’ SUV, apparently as it was driving along Highway 176, Tennant said. When first responders arrived, the engine was running and the transmission was in drive, Tennant said.

“It is a freak of nature,” Tennant said. “I think it was a matter of the tree root system had failed and the tree came down.”

McCormick had been with the station since 2007, first as a reporter and later as anchor of two Sunday broadcasts, WYFF said. Smeltzer joined the station in February of this year. Both were born in 1982.

Polk County is about 90 miles (145 km) west of Charlotte. </s> At least 31 people have been killed as Florence battered the coast off North and South Carolina on Friday and into the weekend. North Carolina officials report 25 dead and South Carolina officials report six.

In one incident, a mother, 41, and her 7-month-old son were killed when a tree fell on their house in Wilmington. The father was also home, and he was taken to the New Hanover Regional Medical Center for treatment. Officials did not know his condition as of 3:30 p.m. Friday.

The family was trapped for several hours as firefighters tried to rescue them. The large size of the tree made it difficult, Wilmington Fire Department Chief Jon Mason said during a Friday afternoon press conference. Firefighters used heavy lifting, air bags and saws in what was an emotional rescue.

There have been numerous calls for fallen trees, according to officials, however they are not aware of any others where people are trapped.

The photo below shows firefighters praying at the scene.

Firefighters pray at an operation to remove a tree that fell on a house injuring resident during Hurricane Florence in Wilmington, North Carolina on September 14, 2018.

The third death happened in Hampstead, Pender County when a woman had a medical emergency and EMS crews could not get to her due to the storm, according to Tom Collins, Director of Emergency Management. She died Friday morning.

There have been two fatalities in Kinston as a result of Hurricane Florence, according to Lenoir County Emergency Services Director Roger Dail.

A 68-year-old man was electrocuted at a residence on Silver Smith Circle Friday morning when he was trying to connect two extension cords outside in the rain. His body was discovered by family members.

A 77-year-old man was found dead at 8 a.m. Friday by his family at his home on Middle Street in Kinston. Officials believe he died of a cardiac event when he went outside to check on his hunting dogs late Thursday night, according to the NC State Emergency Response team.

Both deaths were reported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office by the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office.

Officials in South Carolina reported the state's first fatality due to Florence on Saturday. 61-year-old Amber Dawn Lee was killed late Friday when her vehicle struck a tree that had fallen across the highway. No passengers were in the vehicle at the time of the crash, and Captain Kelley Hughes of the South Carolina Highway Patrol said that the woman was wearing her seatbelt.

Four people were killed in flash flooding and swift water on roadways in Duplin County, NC, the Duplin County Sheriff’s Office confirmed. Three people died in separate vehicles on Saturday and one person died during a water rescue on Friday, the Sheriff's Office said.

An 81-year-old man fell and struck his head while packing to evacuate Wayne County, NC on Friday, according to a release from the NC State Emergency Response team.

A 68-year-old man and his wife died in a house fire in Cumberland County, NC on Friday, according to a release from the NC State Emergency Response team. Preliminary reports indicate that the fire was caused by a candle being used while the power was out, NCPD confirmed.

61-year-old Debra Collins RIon and 63-year-old Mark Carter King died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator used in their home. The Horry County Coroner's Office said that they were found in their home on Saturday afternoon, and died Friday night.

A fatal collision on Saturday morning left two injured and one dead in Georgetown County, SC. According to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, a pick-up truck drove into standing water on the road and lost control, overturning into a ditch. Two people were transported to the hospital. 23-year-old Michael Dalton was pronounced dead at the scene. The conditions and identity of the two transported to the hospital were not immediately available.

The South Carolina Department of Public Safety reported a fatal collision in Kershaw County on Sunday morning. The driver of a pick-up truck died at the scene when the vehicle traveled off the roadway, striking an overpass support beam.

A driver in a pickup truck drove standing water and lost control of the vehicle near Gilbert, SC on Sunday morning, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety. The vehicle hit a tree, and the driver died at the scene.

A 3-month-old child died Sunday afternoon after a tree fell on a mobile home in Gaston County, NC, according to the county commissioner Tracy Philbeck. The family shared a photo of the baby, Kade Gill, with NBC Charlotte. They said his mother was holding him when the tree came crashing down. The mother was rushed to the hospital and was in stable condition.

Also in Gaston County, a 25-year-old man who was a passenger in an SUV died on Saturday while not wearing a seat belt.

1-year-old boy swept away by floodwaters in NC

Officials found the body one-year-old Kaiden Lee Welch Monday morning. He was swept away by floodwaters Sunday night. Deputies said that a woman drove through the barricades in North Carolina, and her vehicle encountered rushing water flowing across the road. The woman left the roadway and came to a rest among a group of trees. Her son was in a car seat, and was swept away when his mother lost her grip on him. The mother has been rescued.

The body of an 88-year-old man has been recovered in Marshville, NC after floodwaters receded, according to police on site. The Union County Sheriff's Office announced Monday that a passing motorist found the body. The man was driving across a flooded road when his car ran off the road. His car window was down, indicating he might have tried to get out of the car, according to authorities.

A one-year-old child died while in a vehicle that was washed off the road on Sunday.

The body of a 52-year-old man was discovered on the back porch of a house damaged by the storm on Saturday. A 37-year-old man died in a car crash after hydroplaning across the yellow line and hitting another car.

A 73-year-old man died from respiratory complications after his house lost power and could not longer use his oxygen concentrator. Another man collapsed and died while trying to assist an evacuee. He was 62.

A 61-year-old man died while evacuating from Wilmington on a moped this Sunday.

A 56-year-old man died after his tractor-trailer hydroplaned and ran off the road this Sunday.

A body was recovered from a discovered vehicle that had washed off the road on Monday.

A 73-year-old man and a 65-year-old man after their cars were submerged in Scotland County, NC. They were in separate cars.

An 83-year-old man died in a car crash in a washed out roadway and collided with a cement culvert. No other vehicles were involved in the crash.

Several tornadoes were reported Monday afternoon in central and southern Virginia. One person was killed after a building collapsed in Chesterfield, Va.

Editor's Note: A previous version of this article reported two deaths in Carteret County, North Carolina. The Carteret Country Sheriff's Department confirmed that these two deaths initially reported as a result of Florence were a result of an apparent murder-suicide. </s> A South Carolina anchor and photographer died on Monday after a large tree fell on their SUV while they were covering Subtropical Storm Alberto.

WYFF news anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were covering “rain impact” in Polk County, North Carolina, when a tree fell on their SUV, killing both of them, their home station said Monday night.

Tryon Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant said in a press conference that at about 2:30 P.M., the station received a call that there was a tree down on a vehicle with people trapped inside. When local authorities arrived, they saw a tree on the SUV in what Tennant estimated to be around “three feet in diameter.”

He also said that the vehicle appeared to be in motion when it was struck because the engine was running and the transmission was in drive when rescue teams approached.

“I think it was a matter of the tree root system had failed and the tree came down” Tennant told local reporters. He said that he did not believe it was a slide but rather a cause of saturated grounds because of the rain.

“All of us at WYFF News 4 are grieving. We are a family and we thank you, our extended family, for your comfort as we mourn and as we seek to comfort the families of Mike and Aaron,” the station said.

Tennant said he was also “personally” affected by the deaths because he had been interviewed by McCormick only 10 mins before he and his co-worker were struck and killed by the falling tree.

“It’s the first time I met either one of the two gentlemen but you feel a sense of responsibility toward them,” Tennant said.

The first named storm of the 2018 hurricane season made landfall late Monday on the Florida panhandle, bringing heavy rainfall and strong winds to the coastal area normally packed with Memorial Day crowds.The National Hurricane Center said in its 5 p.m. ET advisory that Subtropical Storm Alberto had top sustained winds of 45 mph, and made landfall near Laguna Beach in the Florida panhandle.

McCormick, originally from Arkansas, joined the NBC affiliate station in 2007 as a reporter after years in the industry. He became an anchor in 2014.

Smeltzer, originally from Virginia, joined WYFFs team only a few months ago, in February.

Tennant says that the North Carolina State Highway Patrol will be leading the investigation going forward. </s> Tryon, North Carolina: A TV anchor and his photojournalist were killed when a tree fell on their vehicle in North Carolina as they worked to report on subtropical storm Alberto.

WYFF News 4 anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were on a highway reporting on the flooding and several weather wiped up by Alberto on the US east coast, when the tree roots gave way.

A fire chief in North Carolina says he spoke to the pair 10 minutes before they were struck and killed by the falling tree.

Tryon Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant's voice broke as he talked about recognising the WYFF-TV vehicle under the large tree and the two men dead inside. </s> A local news anchor and photojournalist from Greenville, South Carolina, died Monday while covering subtropical storm Alberto when a tree fell on their news vehicle, crushing it and trapping them inside, according to authorities and the television station, WYFF.

WYFF broke the news on the air during its 6 p.m. broadcast.

“Tonight,” WYFF anchor Carol Goldsmith began, “our news family grieves over the loss of two special journalists and two special friends.”

The anchor, Michael McCormick, and photojournalist, Aaron Smeltzer, were travelling on Highway 176 in Polk County, North Carolina, about 30 miles north of Greenville, when the tree fell about 30 feet onto their SUV, said Tryon Fire Department Chief Geoffrey Tennant. The vehicle was apparently in motion at the time the tree fell on it, Tennant said, because when the fire department arrived on scene, the transmission was running and the vehicle was still in drive.

Tennant told a room full of reporters that he didn’t know the reporters personally – but he met them for the first time just 10 or 15 minutes before the 911 call came over the dispatch. They were interviewing him as part of their storm coverage, he said.

“We talked a little bit about how he wanted us to stay safe, and we wanted him to stay safe,” Tennant said of McCormick. “Then of course, 10, 15 minutes later we get the call, and it was him and his photographer.”

Tennant noted that the ground has been saturated from recent torrential rainfall due to the storm, possibly causing the tree to fall. The exact cause of death has not been released.

“I have never seen an event like this one,” he told reporters. “It is a freak of nature. It’s one of those things that you know it’s going to happen, or you can predict it may happen – you just don’t know when.”

The potential for flash floods and mudslides in Polk County had been forecast as severe enough that emergency management officials issued a voluntary evacuation Sunday night. There had also recently been a mudslide in the area.

Alberto made landfall in Laguna Beach, Florida, as a subtropical storm and ripped through the southeastern United States with peak winds of 65 miles per hour. The National Weather Service downgraded it to a subtropical depression on Monday night, but the threat of heavy rain remained.

In a statement, WYFF described McCormick and Smeltzer as dedicated journalists. McCormick began as a reporter for WYFF in 2007 at the station’s sister newsroom in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and became a weekend anchor for the station in 2014. Smeltzer began with the station earlier this year.

“Mike and Aaron were stellar journalists, dedicated to covering news in this market,” John Humphries, WYFF president and general manager, said in the statement. “They were beloved members of our newsroom and we will miss them tremendously. Today is a difficult day, and there will be many more ahead.” </s> WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) - A mother and infant in North Carolina are dead after a tree fell on their home - the first two fatalities of Hurricane Florence.

The Wilmington Police Department said Friday that the two were killed when a tree fell on their house. The father was transported to a hospital for treatment. No other information was given.

The hurricane came ashore early Friday, pounding the state with torrential rain and high winds.

Forecasters have been predicting catastrophic flash flooding. The National Hurricane Center in Miami says more than 16 inches of rain have fallen at locations in southeast North Carolina and another 20 to 25 inches is on the way.
A man in Greensboro, Florida is killed by a tree that crashed through his home, becoming the first reported death from the storm in the United States. Later, a child is killed by a falling tree in Seminole County, Georgia.