groveChuck
U-matic Member
I was slingin' a news cam night and day...
Chasing most hurricanes in US, Caribbean and Latin America- 2-3 days without sleep, go home. Or do the aftermath story when relief arrives. Like 20-something major storms.
Then Hurricane Andrew came to me, I didn't chase it- straight to Miami, home. Lost part of my roof, worked 18 hr days for over a month, no power for 3 weeks (Q: how many time can you walk into a dark bathroom and hit the light switch? A: Every. Single. Time. In a dark house while carrying a flashlight.)
The night of Andrew's arrival, I was shooting b roll all night, with a producer/driver.
The routine was get some shots from inside the car, for others turn the car (parking in the middle of streets, zero traffic) so passenger seat was on the dry side, wind coming from the front, get out and get some shots, get back in the car... in and out, in and out...
(note: the following contains foreshadowing)
Then it started getting worse. We were on the bayfront and a sailboat had gotten impaled on a dock piling.
I said to myself "Self, this is probably the last shot outside the car", get out, round the corner of a small brick building, and when I get around the corner the unobstructed wind catches me like a wind tunnel (probably getting very close to the max 85-90 mph you can stand in), and the wind starts pushing me and my Betacam down the dock towards the water. And I can't stop- I'm leaning 45 degrees back into the wind and it's still pushing me toward the end of the dock.
Then I turn to my right, the little brick building now behind me, reach my left hand behind me, and grab the space between bricks with my fingertips. And stop. And do that, pulling myself brick by brick, to the corner of the building and around it, and the wind drops, no longer unobstructed. I struggle back to the car, get in...
...and the producer is asleep, snoring. I punch him in the arm, yell WTF?!? and we head on.
We get to another area, between bands of the storm and the wind isn't as bad, so I get out again, to get more boats getting tossed.
I walk about 25 feet toward the boats, then the producer drives up to me so I don't have to walk back, leans over and pulls the door handle... when the wind (probably 70-75) is blowing from the rear of the car....
And catches the door, swings it all the way open, then pushes it another 3 inches, and stops. 2 inches from my groin.
I get in, and the door won't close, the hinge is bent. I pull and pull, finally get it to where it's only open 1 inch. And the chime is going.
For the rest of the night, "ding-ding-ding" mixed in with roaring wind in all my in the car b roll.
The producer offered to pull the chime fuse out of the fuse box, but I said "no f-in' way you're touching that fuse box..."
Andrew was the strongest, costliest storm to hit the US until Katrina. Originally headed to the densely populated North Miami, it took a turn to the less-populated south. We holed up in a parking garage for an hour or so, and the eye hit about 20 miles south of us, with sustained winds of 165. Then after dawn and the winds started dropping, we had to try to find a path through downed trees to get out.
The Betacam's servo zoom went out, so it was manual zoom for a few days until I could change lenses, but the BVP-7 camera (and BVV-5 recorder) never failed, no head clogs, no creased tapes, no fog in the lens, nothing.
Anyway, that's my Night of Andrew story, I finally got home the day after the day after, then began the long, neverending months and months and months of coverage.
A friend of mine is heading to Texas to cover Cat 3 Harry with 112+ winds expected (be safe, Texas!), so I felt compelled to tell my old story, which I've never written down. This was year 12 of 22 years of news. Glad I'm out, but I've seen some things...
I usually tell this (or Hugo, or Mexico or Jamaica), over a few beers, so excuse me while I go get one... or two.
Sorry to be so long "winded" , thanks for indulging me.
Palm vs Plywood
Chasing most hurricanes in US, Caribbean and Latin America- 2-3 days without sleep, go home. Or do the aftermath story when relief arrives. Like 20-something major storms.
Then Hurricane Andrew came to me, I didn't chase it- straight to Miami, home. Lost part of my roof, worked 18 hr days for over a month, no power for 3 weeks (Q: how many time can you walk into a dark bathroom and hit the light switch? A: Every. Single. Time. In a dark house while carrying a flashlight.)
The night of Andrew's arrival, I was shooting b roll all night, with a producer/driver.
The routine was get some shots from inside the car, for others turn the car (parking in the middle of streets, zero traffic) so passenger seat was on the dry side, wind coming from the front, get out and get some shots, get back in the car... in and out, in and out...
(note: the following contains foreshadowing)
Then it started getting worse. We were on the bayfront and a sailboat had gotten impaled on a dock piling.
I said to myself "Self, this is probably the last shot outside the car", get out, round the corner of a small brick building, and when I get around the corner the unobstructed wind catches me like a wind tunnel (probably getting very close to the max 85-90 mph you can stand in), and the wind starts pushing me and my Betacam down the dock towards the water. And I can't stop- I'm leaning 45 degrees back into the wind and it's still pushing me toward the end of the dock.
Then I turn to my right, the little brick building now behind me, reach my left hand behind me, and grab the space between bricks with my fingertips. And stop. And do that, pulling myself brick by brick, to the corner of the building and around it, and the wind drops, no longer unobstructed. I struggle back to the car, get in...
...and the producer is asleep, snoring. I punch him in the arm, yell WTF?!? and we head on.
We get to another area, between bands of the storm and the wind isn't as bad, so I get out again, to get more boats getting tossed.
I walk about 25 feet toward the boats, then the producer drives up to me so I don't have to walk back, leans over and pulls the door handle... when the wind (probably 70-75) is blowing from the rear of the car....
And catches the door, swings it all the way open, then pushes it another 3 inches, and stops. 2 inches from my groin.
I get in, and the door won't close, the hinge is bent. I pull and pull, finally get it to where it's only open 1 inch. And the chime is going.
For the rest of the night, "ding-ding-ding" mixed in with roaring wind in all my in the car b roll.
The producer offered to pull the chime fuse out of the fuse box, but I said "no f-in' way you're touching that fuse box..."
Andrew was the strongest, costliest storm to hit the US until Katrina. Originally headed to the densely populated North Miami, it took a turn to the less-populated south. We holed up in a parking garage for an hour or so, and the eye hit about 20 miles south of us, with sustained winds of 165. Then after dawn and the winds started dropping, we had to try to find a path through downed trees to get out.
The Betacam's servo zoom went out, so it was manual zoom for a few days until I could change lenses, but the BVP-7 camera (and BVV-5 recorder) never failed, no head clogs, no creased tapes, no fog in the lens, nothing.
Anyway, that's my Night of Andrew story, I finally got home the day after the day after, then began the long, neverending months and months and months of coverage.
A friend of mine is heading to Texas to cover Cat 3 Harry with 112+ winds expected (be safe, Texas!), so I felt compelled to tell my old story, which I've never written down. This was year 12 of 22 years of news. Glad I'm out, but I've seen some things...
I usually tell this (or Hugo, or Mexico or Jamaica), over a few beers, so excuse me while I go get one... or two.
Sorry to be so long "winded" , thanks for indulging me.
Palm vs Plywood
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