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Hurricane Ida: Al Roker drenched while reporting, viewers slam MSNBC

While on-ground reporting continues in dire conditions, Al Roker seems to have gotten to worst of Hurricane Ida and Twitter as well

As Hurricane Ida continues to wreak havoc, on-ground reporting continues in the state to provide people with real-time updates. This field job is far from easy and, more importantly, comes with its fair share of risks.

With Hurricane Ida threatening to transform into a Category 5 hurricane, destruction is almost inevitable. But it looks like Twitter was also rather concerned about losing one particular person -- 67-year-old meteorologist Al Roker. Roker, who was reporting live from Louisana, has dealt with the storm, footage of which was caught on tape.

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During a segment on NBC's 'Meet the Press', Roker was seen drenched entirely as massive waves engulfed him as he continued to report on the storm. Fans were worried for his safety and did not see the point in having the 66-year-old go out on the field during such terrible conditions.

Twitter was filled with messages of concern and memes. "Fwiw, i "like" al roker (i don't know him, hence the quotes), but that reporter in storm shit is one if the many reasons i can't take the media here seriously. it's senseless and nobody asked for it." tweeted a user. "Dear lord. Anttthing for a damn news story. Get poor @alroker a towel and dry socks please." suggested an exasperated user.

"What did Al Roker do to you guys at NBC to be put in the middle of this deadly storm. For heavens sake he's surviving cancer. Get that man out of there" pointed another, seeing that Roker is currently under treatment for prostate cancer. 

"How Al Roker was" joked a user. "Tell Al Roker to get his ass inside" added another, along with footage of an unknown man walking through a storm surge, which has been advised against by the National Weather Service New Orleans. "NBC is trying to kill Al Roker apparently." added a user. 

On the other hand, Roker felt somewhat differently about the entire situation, as reported by The Wrap. "I volunteered to come out here. This is what I do, I've done this for 40 years," Roker said, while on 'The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart'. "We all make sure we're safe, we're not going to do something that's gonna put ourselves in harm's way. As much as I love the weather, and I love NBC, I'm not gonna risk my life for it," he added. 

He even had a few things to say, regarding the fact that Twitter kept pointing out his age. "'Well, he's too old to be doing this,'" he said, seeing that most of the tweets asked this question. "Hey, guess what? Screw you! OK?" he added. "Try to keep up! Keep up, OK? That's it. These young punks, I will go after them! I will drop them like a bag of dirt!" the meteorologist and reporter joked. 

He even took to Instagram to mention that he volunteered to report live from the field.  "For all those who were worried about me out on #lakepontchartrain a) I volunteered to do this. Part of the job. b) My crew and I were safe and we are back at our hotel and c) for those who think I’m too old to to be doing this, try and keep up" he wrote, alongside a video of him draining out his rain boots.