Houston is filled with talented former TV news staffers who have left the news business, but feel compelled to help out once a major hurricane threatens our area.
Case in point, former chief meteorologist Dr. Neil Frank usually returns to KHOU 11 when the Gulf threatens.
And speaking of channel 11, you might have noticed another familiar face returning to the TEGNA station.
Former 11 reporter and executive editor Doug Miller has been called in from the reserves to help out with Hurricane Harvey coverage.
"It would have been weird, sitting at home watching after chasing hurricanes all of these years," Miller told mikemcguff.com. "I feel like a retired firefighter watching a building burn...hand me a hose."
No doubt Miller has years of experience and know how on how to cover a Houston-area storm.
Last year, when he took a buyout from the station, Miller told me he was willing to return if/when needed.
"I've got a closet full of rain gear decorated with old KHOU logos," Miller told me in 2016. "If they need me in a pinch, God help me, I'd probably still meet the live truck halfway."
In fact, Miller's outstanding weather reporting lasted all the way till his final days with the station.
I wrote on this very blog in April of 2016 how Miller and photographer Sergio Soto excelled in their coverage of the Tax Day floods.
If you know Miller personally, then you will know the depths he is willing to go to get the story.
"One of the moments I'll never forget was waking up in the middle of the night during Tropical Storm Allison and turning in the TV to see our newsroom was flooding," Miller recalled to me. "I knew my car would never make it through the streets. so I started walking to the station. As luck would have it, Jeff McShan happened to drive by in a live truck and picked me up."
So what has Miller been up to in his post TV life?
He is now a member of the Houston Chronicle editorial board.
UPDATE
Former KPRC 2 reporter Brendan Keefe, who is now the Chief Investigative Reporter at WXIA Atlanta, tells me he is returning to Houston to help out TEGNA sister station KHOU.
