8/31/2005 I’m still alive and back in Minneapolis. I evacuated the area last night and caught a flight home from Houston. Been up for 28 hours, going to bed and will try not have nightmares about what I saw yesterday and the day before. New Orleans Is Destroyed, It Is Gone. The Town Is GONE!!! It’s almost all under water!
Updating the blog page for this storm here. http://www.weatherpaparazzi.com/welcome-to-my-hurricane-katrina-video-diary-and-photo-blog/
I will update the page more with lots of photos and more video when I wake up.
8/29/2005 What did I just live through? I was in New Orleans shooting Hurricane Katrina video for The Weather Channel and oh my god, that was insane!!! I did not get the eye that other chasers wanted but what I got was far better. Major Hurricane hitting a Major City, which means major winds hitting skyscrapers! Oh yeah, I watched some insane stuff today!!! The flooding is starting and there are reports that the levee’s failed or are failing. Internet is spotty at best and I have a limited connection at my hotel. Cell phones are worthless as the cell towers are gone. I can only get cell signal near the airport.
8/28/2005 Early AM: Just updated the site with the Evacuation footage as Interstate 10 east was turned in the Contra Traffic Lane, which means all lanes of traffic on Interstate 10 head west out of New Orleans. Click on the graphic below for my Hurricane Katrina video and photography blog.
8/27/2005 En Route to the U.S. Gulf Coast for Hurricane Katrina video and photography chase for The Weather Channel. I will be updating my Hurricane Katrina video blog before, during and after the storm. Click on the graphic below for my Hurricane Katrina video and photography blog.
8/26/2005 Took the last few days off to try and kick this funk that has turned into walking pneumonia but still coughing like crazy and feel like crap but their is a hurricane coming that I can’t miss. This is going to be the big one.
8/22/2005 Been ordered to take several days off and not do anything, no video, no work, just stay home and sleep. The funk I have is starting to turn into walking walking pneumonia.
8/21/2005 Still recovering from being sick but was up to getting back into the swing of thing’s and was out playing Weather Channel Photographer today. I was out at the Minneapolis Rose Garden shooting video for the evening show.
8/19/2005 Got woken up to the sound of sirens and news on the scanner about a major wreck that shut down Interstate 35W near my home in Burnsville, MN this morning. Someone went Dukes Of Hazard off the frontage road next to the Best Buy storm in Burnsville and launched their truck onto Interstate 35W.
8/16/2005 Still sick but got a little burned out staying home and sleeping so I went out and shoot some rain footage for TWC tonight.
8/13/2005 Well this was not how I was thinking about spending the one year after hurricane Charley date but I was at home sick still when I heard a police call come over the scanner right down the street from me. I felt good enough to go out for a few minutes to shoot video and got this interesting news package for KSTP tonight for the morning show.
8/11/2005 Still home in Minneapolis and recovering. I’ve been out of action and sick for the last 2 weeks for the most part. Been pretty much sleeping and barfing for the last two weeks and trying to do the video requests as they come in but I’m not doing any chasing at all outside of the metro area. Just quick video shoots and back to bed.
The Doc thinks I got Mono from the Hurricane Dennis chase because of all the stuff flying through the air. Stuff as in the outdoor “Porta Potty” that were picked up by the hurricane and thrown into the wind. We watched a few of them blow around so it makes sense if that is what is the case. I just don’t know where the hell I caught this funk.
Here is the video I shot today for TWC and KSTP.
8/9/2005 I can barely stay awake but yet I was out again for the network shooting the severe storms this morning. I think I might be making this funk I got worse by not resting.
8/8/2005 Feeling like death warmed over but had to do a morning show shoot this morning in downtown Saint Paul for TWC. Not one of my best videos but hey it was still pretty damn good considering I’m suppose to be in bed and sleeping per doctors orders.
8/5/2005 Out Sick, I caught Mono, can’t eat, can barely drink water, TWC wanted me too shoot video and I could barely put the camera on the tripod on my deck to shoot lightning. Ugh, being this sick sucks and I have not been sick in years! I guess it all comes back at me at once to bite me in the ass.
Here is the video I shot from my deck. I actually put the camera on the tripod and went back to bed for a while then just edited the footage.
8/3/2005 – Very Sick, Dr. thinks its Mono or Maybe West Nile… Lost a lot of weight and very very sick! I will be out of action for the next week or maybe longer.