The Last Days And Death Of New Orleans Caught On Video

Lightning Boy - Storm Chaser Video ^ | Douglas Kiesling, AKA - Lightningboy

[wallcrawlr]

I was in downtown New Orleans shooting Hurricane Katrina video and documented the last few days of the City before it died.

http://www.stormchaserdiary.com/Hurricane_Katrina/index.htm

While other hurricane chasers were going for the worst winds and everyone was avoiding New Orleans because of the flooding, I stayed for Hurricane Katrina and the flooding and the story that it was going to make. After Hurricane Ivan, I did not want to cross any large bridges could be washed out and end up cutting me off from going home alive. It was a long shot to stay in New Orleans because the storm could have missed New Orleans all together and I would have had wasted all my time and effort for nadda, but my gut feeling told me to stay.

Saturday night I went down to the famous Bourbon Street to possibly document the last night on the town, ever! People were in a carefree mood, nobody seemed to care what was happening or that the hand of god was about to come down on the big easy. When people asked me what I was doing with the PD-170 video camera, I told them I was filming the last night on the town because it looked as if the town was going to die in 36 hours. Some people thought I was on drugs, while others stopped to tell me their story about being trapped there because the airport shut down operations and they had nowhere else to go.

Now by Sunday Night, I was even starting to ask myself "What The Hell Are You Doing, Your Going To Die!" But I knew I had a job to do and there were a lot of people counting on me to get the footage. I did take one last trip into down town to shoot some of the last footage of the French Quarter.

While I was out shooting all the hurricane Katrina video I did not pay attention to the human toll. I had a job to do and focused on my work at the time, not what was going to happen in the following days. As I drove to Houston on Tuesday night to get on a flight home the following morning so I could just get out of the area that was getting too dangerous I had time to reflect on what I just lived through.

It started to hit me pretty hard as I was back out seeing what happened before I went home with seeing all the devastation. In the final video below, when I fed the video into the The Weather Channel and KSTP, I had no other way to describe what I saw other then to call people Refugees like they just came out of a city that was just bombed.

What really hit home for me is when you watch the video of the destruction in downtown New Orleans, you see a guy come up to me and ask for help. I shut the camera off because I did not know if he was mad at me filming him in case he was a looter. He said he was in his home and it was just flooded and he lived on the second floor of an apartment by the lake and he thought the levee broke. As soon as I heard that I took my friend Blake Michaelski's advice to get out if water starts to rise, and I did. I went through a lot of flooded streets and barely made it back to the hotel as the water rapidly flooded the city.

On my last day in New Orleans and Kenner, I went back on Interstate 10, to a spot where I was just a few days before get on the Interstate but now it is where they were doing evacuation and search and rescue ground operations. They were launching the boats at the Interstate 610 and 10 split on the west side of town, and the area looked more like a Mississippi river boat launch then an interstate.

It was now under water, not just a few feet, it was now a lake. I saw the top of a car that was under water but could barely make it out because it had several feet of water on top of it. The only way I could really see it was the sun was out. The looks on the faces of people when they got off the rescue boats and were walking to the aide station to check in and get checked out before being trucked over to a shelter was heart breaking. I had to remind myself that I just film the news, I don't make it happen.

I did not film anyone that was in no shape to get out on their own for health reasons such as the elderly or sick. While talking to some guys from the Coast Guard when a boat came in with some people on board. There was one old lady with an air tank that they rescued and I pointed the camera up. He asked if I was going to film that and I told him no because she looked like she had no choice in the matter and was trapped there. Its the able bodied people that would not leave their pets behind or the ones who just did not take it serious who then needed to be rescued that I filmed.

As for being a little cold and focusing on the chase and seeing a powerful storm, yeah I was there for the storm and get in for the storm then get out after it and never see the people for the most part. Its when you see hundreds of people waiting under a bridge in the shade for a fleet of school buses to take them to a shelter because they just lost everything, thaws when it really hits you that there is a major human factor and its not just all about seeing the power of the storm. There were more people waiting at one pick up area that lost everything then were affected by tornadoes all year long in 2005. So does it impact me? Yes, yes it does but I also have a job to do and I know that there is not much if anything I can do for them except take their names and phone numbers of people that they wanted me to call to tell them they are alive so their loved ones won't worry as much.

After finishing up the last video shoot a man and his dog were looking pretty bad from being out in the heat. He asked me if he could bum a ride and told me he needed to go to his moms house by the airport. I packed up my gear in the back seat and they got in and I brought him across town and gave him some food. He was very happy for the ride but nothing could beat the look on his face when he got to his moms house and found that 99 percent of it was perfect. Just some debris in the yard, but the trees were still standing, when windows were there and he now had a place to stay since his house was under water.

Now that is my short version of my story, here are the video's. Their in WMV format so you will need windows media player.

http://www.stormchaserdiary.com/Hurricane_Katrina/index.htm

[wallcrawlr]

You have to see these video's and pictures.

If this is posted please delete...I'm sure I didnt search correctly to find it but I'm posting anyways...(erring on the side of exposure for these vid's)

[saquin]

Thanks for posting this. I'll have to check out the vids when I get home from work but I don't think anyone has posted these before.

[Dysart]

Bookmark for later. Thanks.

[TheOtherOne]

After a couple of minutes trying to find said video all I found was a pitch selling something.


OKAY, FOUND THEM. THEY ARE ON THIS PAGE, 1/3 OF THE WAY DOWN. AND THE SITE IS SLOW AS MOLASSES.

http://www.stormchaserdiary.com/Hurricane_Katrina/index.htm





NOT A FAN OF SALES SITES BEING LINKED ON FR.



"

Due to an overwhelming response to the Hurricane Katrina footage that I have posted and many people telling me that I should create a charity video, I decided I will create a home video project where I will give half of the profits after expenses to the Red Cross.

For those of you that follow my work you know this will keep you on the edge of your seat and yelling at me to take cover. The footage and the story I captured on video is more compelling then the award winning Hurricane Charley Documentary I produced last year. You will see the whole story, including the life or death evacuation I made to get out of the downtown area after I found out the Levee broke.

Release Date, September 26th, 2005

Hurricane Katrina - New Orleans - Before, During & After - DVD NTSC ($15.00 + $4.50 S+H)

Hurricane Katrina - New Orleans - Before, During & After - VHS NTSC ($15.00 + $4.50 S+H)

To Pay By Check Or Mail Order You Can Send A Check For $19.50

Make Check Payable To:

BNVN

PO BOX 17331

Minneapolis, "

[wallcrawlr]

I think you missed the point. The videos are right there to watch.

[manwiththehands]

Bookmark for later ... the server is way too slow.

[wallcrawlr]

Here are the first few.

http://www.stormchaserdiary.com/Hurricane_Katrina/video/082705_New_Orleans_Starts_To_Evacuate.wmv

http://www.stormchaservideo.com.nyud.net:8090/Hurricane_Katrina/video/082805_Last_Night_On_Bourbon_Street_256k.wmv

http://www.stormchaservideo.com.nyud.net:8090/Hurricane_Katrina/video/082805_Massive_Evacuation.wmv

http://www.stormchaservideo.com.nyud.net:8090/Hurricane_Katrina/video/082805_Katrina_Moves_Into_New_Orleans.wmv

http://www.stormchaservideo.com.nyud.net:8090/Hurricane_Katrina/video/082905_Lake_Pontchartrain_Final_%20Moments_Overnight.wmv

http://www.stormchaservideo.com.nyud.net:8090/Hurricane_Katrina/video/082905_Hurricane_Katrina_Hits_PreDawn.wmv

http://www.stormchaservideo.com.nyud.net:8090/Hurricane_Katrina/video/082905_Hurricane_Katrina_Fleeing_And_Aftermath.wmv

[truthluva]

mark

[TheOtherOne]

Thanks, better than my last post of links with the images.

[DallasMike]

Fellow Freepers:

At the suggestion of writer Michelle Malkin last Friday, I have cobbled together a blogsite called Texas Clearinghouse for Katrina Aid to serve as a clearinghouse for refugee efforts in Texas.

Texas is getting more refugees than any other state -- that's fine, we'll take them all -- but we need help providing them with food, clothing, and shelter.

If you are a refugee, you can information that will help you find relief. If you want to donate or volunteer, you can find someone who needs you.

Right now the site mostly covers Houston and Dallas but I will add various churches, schools, and other charities in San Antonio and Ft. Worth tonight. My wife is down at Reunion Arena in Dallas as we speak handing out care packages and otherwise ministering to the refugees as a representative of her employer.

There are a lot of churches and other organizations in Texas that need help in dealing with the problem and I would be most appreciative if you would get the word out.

Many thanks,

Michael McCullough

Stingray