--- title: Tornado in Tupelo, Mississippi: Weatherman Evacuates Newsroom description: Meteorologist directs evacuation during broadcast as tornado touches down in Tupelo, Mississippi. canonical: https://time.com/81346/weatherman-tornado-evacuate/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-29T18:22:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:09:14.711Z og:title: WATCH: Weatherman Interrupts Live Broadcast to Evacuate Newsroom During Tornado og:description: Meteorologist directs evacuation during broadcast as tornado touches down in Tupelo, Mississippi. og:url: https://time.com/81346/weatherman-tornado-evacuate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: WATCH: Weatherman Interrupts Live Broadcast to Evacuate Newsroom During Tornado twitter:description: Meteorologist directs evacuation during broadcast as tornado touches down in Tupelo, Mississippi. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # WATCH: Weatherman Interrupts Live Broadcast to Evacuate Newsroom During Tornado  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 29, 2014 6:22 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 29, 2014 6:22 PM UTC When a tornado touched down in his studio’s hometown of Tupelo, Mississippi, WTVA Chief Meteorologist Matt Laubhan stayed on his toes and led a [newsroom evacuation](http://digg.com/video/newsroom-live-broadcasting-during-a-tornado) in the middle of a live broadcast. “This is a tornado ripping through the city of Tupelo as we speak, and this could be deadly,” Laubhan says in the clip. Then he points to an area off-camera and shouts, “Basement. Now.” Shortly after the frantic newscast, the station [tweeted](https://twitter.com/wtvanews/status/460882666028802048), “We are safe here.” Devastating [storms](http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article%5F2014-04-29-Severe%20Weather-Photo%20Gallery/id-e7fa91bb8a4443ab8afe60320c484c23) have been ravaging the southern U.S. for the past three days. The violent weather has killed more than 30 people, destroyed homes and businesses and left thousands without power. Officials say [11 were killed](http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2014/04/29/mississippi-storms-damage-day-2/8461797/) in Mississippi on Monday alone. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/81346/weatherman-tornado-evacuate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/81346/weatherman-tornado-evacuate/"},"headline":"WATCH: Weatherman Interrupts Live Broadcast to Evacuate Newsroom During Tornado","datePublished":"2014-04-29T18:22:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:09:14.711Z","description":"Meteorologist directs evacuation during broadcast as tornado touches down in Tupelo, Mississippi.","url":"https://time.com/81346/weatherman-tornado-evacuate/","keywords":["Newsfeed","weather","nation","natural disaster"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/81346/weatherman-tornado-evacuate/","name":"WATCH: Weatherman Interrupts Live Broadcast to Evacuate Newsroom During Tornado"}}]}] ```