James Spann tells viewers his house damaged by Alabama tornado, texts wife and returns to air
ABC 33/40 meteorologist James Spann’s relentless coverage of Thursday’s tornadoes took a brief pause as he found out his home sustained damage.
“What I’m doing is texting my wife to be sure she’s in the shelter,” Spann said as he was off camera Thursday afternoon.
Spann’s colleague, ABC 33/40 meteorologist Taylor Sarallo, then took over the broadcast when Alabama’s preeminent meteorologist heard the grim news.
“The reason I had to step out, we had major damage at my house,” Spann said when he returned to the ABC 33/40 broadcast. “My wife is OK, but the tornado came right through there and it’s not good, it’s bad. It’s bad.”
Here is full coverage of today’s storms
After sharing the news with viewers, Spann put his personal problems aside to warn residents of the tornadoes path.
Later in the broadcast. the meteorologist shared a picture of the damage to his backyard:

ABC 33/40 meteorologist James Spann shared this picture of the damage in his backyard caused by a tornado from Thursday’s storms.
“I’ll shoot straight with you guys, that’s my backyard,” he said. “It’s been a rough day. Very rough day.”
The moment Spann finds out his home is hit could be seen here around the two-hour, six-minute mark:
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