Hurricane Rita video and photo blog from Key West FL and Port Arthur TX.

All of the stock footage is now located on www.bnvn.com. The following videos are the footage posted only for the blog. If you need stock footage, please visit BNVN.com.

09/19/2005 A.M. - Currently En Route to Key West Florida to intercept Hurricane Rita.

I will be chasing Hurricane Rita with my friend and fellow hurricane chaser Mark Rackley who is one of the best in the business. Mark is well known for getting the shots that others dream about. Right now Rita is a tropical storm that is heading for the Florida Keys and is expected to become a hurricane later this evening or tomorrow.

09/19/2005 2:00 p.m. - In Key West Florida. I made one of the last flights in and it looks as if Rita is going to hit directly here tomorrow.

As soon as I landed, I was out shooting video of people getting ready on Duval Street in Key West.

Video 1, Key West Florida Prepares For Tropical Storm Rita

09/19/2005 8:00 p.m. - Key West is as ready as they will ever get with most of the population out of the area, EMS on standby and the media and the hold outs are the only ones left in town. Hurricane Rita is picking up strength just like Katrina did as it moved close to Florida. This storm could be a Cat 2 by this time tomorrow and hitting or already moving off shore from Key West with in 24 hours.

The National Hurricane Center has the Center of Rita hitting just south of Key West. This should be an interesting hurricane intercept since I'm on an Island for the most part. Mark and I will be on foot for most of the storm shooting lots of footage.

It is less then 24 hours from Hurricane Rita and those who stayed, got a picture perfect sunset. Video 2, The Perfect Sunset From Key West Before Tropical Storm Rita

09/20/2005 - Tropical Storm Rita has become Hurricane Rita this morning while I was out shooting video in Key West Florida. With winds of 85 MPH, the storm will pass over or near Key West Florida this afternoon.

Here are the photographs from Hurricane Rita in Key West before the camera died. I killed the Sony Cyber Shot at the southern most point.

I got into Key West the day before Hurricane Rita and the storm was still a tropical storm but the airlines were not letting anyone in unless they lived in the Keys or if they were with the media. Once on the ground and getting all of my stuff in order, I went out and did some pre storm video and photographs to check out the area for locations to shoot and to take shelter.

Then it was off to stay with my buddy Mark Rackley for the night until the storm came in. Honestly, that was the best nights sleep before any tropical storm that I have ever had. I got in 8 hours of sleep then woke up ready to take on the hurricane.

The next day I was off and running shooting a ton of footage in Key West and shooting a ton of photographs, until my camera died.

Only in Key West will you have people hanging out at the docks in the middle of a Hurricane and getting wasted. The guy on the bike was really mad at me taking his picture and made me think he was wanted by the law for something. If you don't want to be on camera, don't go out and screw around in the middle of a Hurricane.

And then I killed the Sony Cyber Shot... While I took these photograph's, salt water kept getting on me and the camera. Finally the camera just died and it was all over. The Memory cards still work great but the camera is toast!

The last two images is what will happen when you get salt water in your digital camera.

Here is the video that I shot during the day for The Weather Channel. I was contacted at the last minute to help them out since they were sending a crew down from Key Largo and they needed someone to help them out with b-roll.

Video 3, Hurricane Rita Hit's Key West Florida - Part 1

Video 4, Hurricane Rita Hit's Key West Florida - Part 2

 

09/21/2005 - Today I'm back in Minneapolis, MN. Huh? How the hell did I get from Key West Florida, to Minneapolis, MN today? Simple, I drove all night long to Miami and got on the Miami leg of the flight back home. I needed to go home and get some replacement camera equipment since I destroyed a Sony VX 2100 video camera and the Sony Cyber Shot.

I just slept on the airplane and made it back in time to chase the storm in Anoka County MN. But that is another story...

Rita grew in today and just as I thought it grew just like Katrina. Rita is now a Cat 5 with maximum sustained winds of 175 MPH. This time the storm is heading towards Houston and Houston Texas could be destroyed like New Orleans. One thing is for sure, it does not look like I'm going to make it to Rory's wedding on Friday.

9/24/2005 - Hurricane Rita video blog from Port Arthur Texas.

First off, I have to thank the lord above for saving me on this hurricane intercept. I thought I was going to die and even worse, all my equipment would be destroyed. I was out next to the ocean by High Island to shoot some footage of the waves at night. I parked on what was solid ground with a road under the truck. After about 5 minutes of shooting video and dealing with poor light conditions with only a spot light, I went to leave the area to go to Port Arthur and meet up with friends up to intercept the hurricane.

As I went to leave, the truck would not move. Sand got under the truck and now what was solid ground started to sink. After about 15 minutes of trying to dig out the sand and back out and rock the truck as the waves were moving closer to me, I was stuck and thought I was going to die. I tried 4x4 hi and low and nothing. Finally I said, "I'm Sorry Lord, Please Help Me". I sat and I thought for a minute about what I was going to do since I had no options except to pray. I then put the truck back in 4x4 Low and put it in reverse and said "Please Lord" and the truck backed out onto solid ground and I was out of there. When my friends at church who have not seen me in months due to all the storms, talk about being saved, that is what it means to me to be saved. Thank You Jesus!

The storm hit at night so shooting video was harder then the Key West chase but it was still another hurricane under the belt. Now I just want a month to rest before the next storm.

After getting out of there, I headed straight for Port Arthur where I shot the following video.

Video 5, Hurricane Rita Makes Landfall In Port Arthur Texas