Fla. reporter uses surprising tool to protect her mic during Hurricane Ian coverage: 'Yes, that is a condom'

Fla. reporter uses surprising tool to protect her mic during Hurricane Ian coverage: 'Yes, that is a condom'

As local journalists continue covering the latest 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.

Residents were so intrigued by Galer’s microphone that 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…”

When asked about the public response by Yahoo Life, Butera says that while it certainly was an amusing moment for Fort Myers viewers, the storm's destruction should be of top concern.

"Eyes on the ball,” he tells Yahoo Life, noting that the response around the microphone was “before the storm” and that “our focus is on the devastation in our community. It's awful."

Though Ian has been downgraded to a tropical storm since making landfall, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry advised on Thursday afternoon that it’s too soon for Floridians to be complacent.

"I want to make clear we're not out of the woods, and you should not let your guard down," Curry said during an afternoon press conference at the city's Emergency Operations Center, per the Florida-Times Union.

As of Thursday morning, Fort Myers recorded storm surges of up to 12 feet, according to the New York Times. Meanwhile, an estimated 2.67 million Floridians are reported to be without power, with at least four people confirmed dead, as the storm moves northward toward South Carolina.

“We’ve never seen storm surge of this magnitude,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a news conference. “The amount of water that’s been rising, and will likely continue to rise today even as the storm is passing, is basically a 500-year flooding event.”

According to the latest reports, Ian is expected to be a Category 1 hurricane when it makes a second landfall along the South Carolina coast on Friday. Local meteorologists are expecting wind gusts between 30 mph to 40 mph — while rainfall is expected to hit around midday.

Get the latest Hurricane Ian disaster recovery information from FEMA.

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