Nexstar Properties Forced to Evacuate

If you were watching Nexstar’s WPIX or NewsNation on Tuesday, you might have noticed the anchors looking a little more... outdoorsy than usual.

Right before 8:00 AM, the FDNY started banging on doors at 220 East 42nd Street—affectionately known as the News Building or 11 PIX Plaza. The problem wasn’t inside their home base, but across the street at 235 East 42nd, the former headquarters of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.

The old Pfizer building is currently undergoing a massive office-to-residential conversion, which apparently involved adding five new floors to the top of the structure. Turns out, the 21st-floor support beams didn't much care for the extra weight. Two major columns severely buckled, floors started to sag, and city officials panicked that the skyscraper was on the verge of a total collapse.

The city immediately locked down the block and ordered the mandatory evacuation of seven surrounding buildings. That included the home of WPIX and NewsNation.

Talk about a "breaking news" moment. Crew members and talent had to scramble out of the newsroom, abandoning their nice, air-conditioned studios for the gritty streets of Midtown Manhattan.

WPIX didn't let a missing studio stop them. The station quickly pivoted, setting up shop right on the pavement. The afternoon newscasts were anchored curbside, complete with full graphics packages beamed from their remote trucks.

To make matters worse for the PIX crew, Mother Nature decided to join the party. The skies opened up, forcing anchors and technicians to frantically scramble for umbrellas to protect themselves—and more importantly, their sensitive (and expensive) gear—from the pouring rain.

Over at NewsNation, the network had to quickly scramble its programming grid. While much of the cable network's daytime operations run out of Chicago, the New York studio handles several afternoon blocks. With the New York newsroom emptied out, anchoring duties were tossed down I-95 to Kellie Meyer in Washington, D.C., while New York correspondent Jessica Kartalija handled reporting live from the cordoned-off perimeter.

H/T CNN