ST. PETERSBURG — A television news reporter from St. Petersburg and a photographer were killed in North Carolina on Monday when a tree fell on their vehicle, according to the NBC affiliate where they worked.

The station, WYFF in Greenville, S.C., said reporter Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were covering the effects of heavy rain in the area when a tree fell on their sport utility vehicle on U.S. 176 near Tryon, N.C., just north of the South Carolina border.

McCormick was a Florida native and graduated from St. Petersburg High School, according to his LinkedIn profile. He joined the station in 2007 and anchored the weekend broadcast, according to the station.

Tryon Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant told WYFF the engine of the SUV was running and the transmission was in drive when authorities arrived at the scene about 2:30 p.m.

The tree that fell on the SUV was about 3 feet in diameter, said Tennant, who had spoken to the two journalists about 10 minutes earlier at a news conference.

"We had talked a little bit about how he wanted us to stay safe and I wanted him to stay safe and of course 10 or 15 minutes later we got the call and it was him and his photographer," Tennant told WYFF.

McCormick graduated from the University of Miami with a degree in broadcast journalism and theater arts, WYFF said. He adopted two dogs and enjoyed cooking with ingredients from the local farmers' market.

Contact Caitlin Johnston at cjohnston@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8779. Follow @cljohnst.