A South Carolina news anchor and a photojournalist were killed Monday when a tree fell on their SUV in western North Carolina where the pair was on assignment covering the bad weather moving through the region.
North Carolina state trooper Murico Stephens said the tree fell across U.S. Highway 176 near Tryon around 2:30 p.m. striking the WYFF-TV vehicle and crushing it.
The area has received heavy rain from the fringes of Subtropical Storm Alberto.
Anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were heading to a story when they were killed, WYFF-TV said.
WYFF anchor Carol Goldsmith said on air that McCormick and Smeltzer were "beloved members of our team - our family."
The tree fell in Polk County not far from where a landslide killed a woman in her home on May 19 after heavy rains.
WYFF-TV is based in Greenville, South Carolina.
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