ABSTRACT
A steady rain began on Halloween afternoon in Roanoke, Virginia, and parents vainly tried to keep their youngsters dry as they went trick-or-treating. Journalists must always be prepared for the unexpected. Every journalist learns the importance of preparation from hard and sometimes painful experiences. The Times had a comprehensive plan for covering the election, but its enthusiasm was tempered by other distractions. The flood dominated Tuesday’s paper, along with an appropriate acknowledgement of Election Day. The local television news teams took advantage of the situation and used their late-night and early-morning shows to report stories missing from the newspaper. The press problems cascaded into the newsroom. A plastic sheet draped down the middle of the newsroom was the only barrier between the reporters and the chaos of the construction area. The newsroom had a natural disaster on its hands; people were dying and others were at risk.
