Long and winding road...
In and out of Gulfport,
MS without a flat....
I have been in the zone of many different natural
and manmade disasters, but for some reason this one feels much more personal.
Maybe it feels different because of my children or maybe Im getting a softer
heart.
Sergio (my sound tech) and I are feeling like refugees ourselves. We have been bounced around the south like a yo-yo.
Having flown into Atlanta, we start the long drive to Gulfport, MS, one of the hardest hit areas in this hurricane. We need to stop in Montgomery, AL and pick up our producer and talent (Judith Ahern and Mark Jordan). They are over here for "Tonight", a 'Dateline' type of show on ITV London.
The ITV team had lost their last crew due to them deciding to just up and leave. Couldn't take the conditions, ie sleeping in the car, lack of hot food, etc. Wimps!
The thing that Sergio and I notice right off the bat are the long lines at gas stations. Everyone is freaking out about a gas shortage. Once we grab the ITV guys, its on to Gulfport. Nearing Mississippi, we decide that we should fill up the tank. One hour! The que was the shortest we saw too!
Gulfport: I have been through here a couple times, once for work, once on vacation. Can't believe some of these houses that have been here for 100+ years are now just rubble. We spot a house that is half gone with every house around it missing. This is our spot for the PTC (piece to camera).
As we start setting up, two ladies that own the house, er rubble next to us show up and start rummaging through the wreckage for personal effects. Takes me back to when my wives parents lost their house to a tornado. I don't envy their task.
There is a strange smell. Could be food rotting in houses near by or could be the unthinkable. Surely its just food. The house we are at used to overlook the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf is now full of trees and metal and lawnmowers and plastic chairs and so on.
Odd to be looking at the beach on a sunny summer day and the only people on it are military. They drive by in their Hummer's and personnel trucks and wave. But they don't bring food or water to the people who are stuck here in what remains of their homes. Why? If we had a bigger truck I would personally go get water and bring it. But we can't. Our little truck is full.
In the rubble of this once stately home, I find a string of pearls, home movies, pictures, a Virgin Mary statue that has gone unmoved. We touch none of it and watch where we step very closely.
Mark Jordan is doing all the pieces for the show from Gulfport. This is his first time hosting the show so we take our time to get it right. It is a virtual airshow overhead. Coast Guard planes and helicopters, Blackhawks, television copters.
After a few hours, we are done and need to find the NBC National Sat Truck. Oddly enough, we picked a house that is exactly one block from the truck.
The truck doesn't have Digi-Beta. Figures! So must feed out of the camera. Our spot on the satellite comes up, but London is not ready. We sit through our 15 minute window without rolling one second of tape. A complete waste of an hour and half.
Time to leave Gulfport for that 8-10 hour drive to Atlanta. There the ITV team will voice the show and send this tape. After a detour, due to a bridge being taken out by a barge during the hurricane, we arrive at the Crowne Plaze hotel in Atlanta at 2:30A. Good to be in a real bed.
Sergio (my sound tech) and I are feeling like refugees ourselves. We have been bounced around the south like a yo-yo.
Having flown into Atlanta, we start the long drive to Gulfport, MS, one of the hardest hit areas in this hurricane. We need to stop in Montgomery, AL and pick up our producer and talent (Judith Ahern and Mark Jordan). They are over here for "Tonight", a 'Dateline' type of show on ITV London.
The ITV team had lost their last crew due to them deciding to just up and leave. Couldn't take the conditions, ie sleeping in the car, lack of hot food, etc. Wimps!
The thing that Sergio and I notice right off the bat are the long lines at gas stations. Everyone is freaking out about a gas shortage. Once we grab the ITV guys, its on to Gulfport. Nearing Mississippi, we decide that we should fill up the tank. One hour! The que was the shortest we saw too!
Gulfport: I have been through here a couple times, once for work, once on vacation. Can't believe some of these houses that have been here for 100+ years are now just rubble. We spot a house that is half gone with every house around it missing. This is our spot for the PTC (piece to camera).
As we start setting up, two ladies that own the house, er rubble next to us show up and start rummaging through the wreckage for personal effects. Takes me back to when my wives parents lost their house to a tornado. I don't envy their task.
There is a strange smell. Could be food rotting in houses near by or could be the unthinkable. Surely its just food. The house we are at used to overlook the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf is now full of trees and metal and lawnmowers and plastic chairs and so on.
Odd to be looking at the beach on a sunny summer day and the only people on it are military. They drive by in their Hummer's and personnel trucks and wave. But they don't bring food or water to the people who are stuck here in what remains of their homes. Why? If we had a bigger truck I would personally go get water and bring it. But we can't. Our little truck is full.
In the rubble of this once stately home, I find a string of pearls, home movies, pictures, a Virgin Mary statue that has gone unmoved. We touch none of it and watch where we step very closely.
Mark Jordan is doing all the pieces for the show from Gulfport. This is his first time hosting the show so we take our time to get it right. It is a virtual airshow overhead. Coast Guard planes and helicopters, Blackhawks, television copters.
After a few hours, we are done and need to find the NBC National Sat Truck. Oddly enough, we picked a house that is exactly one block from the truck.
The truck doesn't have Digi-Beta. Figures! So must feed out of the camera. Our spot on the satellite comes up, but London is not ready. We sit through our 15 minute window without rolling one second of tape. A complete waste of an hour and half.
Time to leave Gulfport for that 8-10 hour drive to Atlanta. There the ITV team will voice the show and send this tape. After a detour, due to a bridge being taken out by a barge during the hurricane, we arrive at the Crowne Plaze hotel in Atlanta at 2:30A. Good to be in a real bed.
Posted: Thu - September 1, 2005 at 03:01 AM
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Published On: Sep 04, 2005 12:28 AM
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Published On: Sep 04, 2005 12:28 AM