This was a landmark week in my journalism career. With the arrival of Tropical Storm Isabel in our area, I was pulled from my sports beat to cover hard news.
Rising at 6:30a.m. Thursday, I prepared for covering a major storm event. I had batteries, flashlights a plenty, raincoat, GI poncho, police scanner -- you name it. Call it overkill, but I even had my battery-powered SawZall-style saw to cut any branches that might block the road.
I came home late afternoon for a brief nap, but that was short-lived, thanks to a quick power outage that brought me back from the hinterlands. I switched from glasses to contacts so that I didn't have to worry about rain obscuring my view.
Then I headed in to the office to join the rest of the news staff to cover the storm. Forecasts called for the beginning of the 6-12 inch onslaught around sunset Thursday. I got in early, so my general editor and I headed out to check predicted hotspots and visit shelters that had been established for refugees.
We cruised one area that had been hit hard when Hurricane Fran came through in '96. We saw few signs of evacuations or preparations for flooding. Then we went to a shelter where we interviewed a few people. Then we went back to join the rest of the staff at the office.
Our crew divided into two teams and we headed out in four-wheel drive vehicles to cover the storm. I headed one of the two teams in spite of my rookie status. For several hours, we saw little action ... there were heavy rains, a few downed trees blocked our roads, and a family of raccoons crossed in front of us. That was about it.
Finally, around midnight waterways started flash-flooding and roads began closing. But the rain was so hard that taking pictures was fruitless. All we had to show for most of the night's work was flash-illuminated raindrops on a black background.
Periodically the teams checked in at the office, but that became less important when our office power went out. We also checked on the shelters, catching a few new refugees and getting their stories throughout the night.
In the wee hours of the morning, we began to stay closer to the office since our town is situated in such a way that a team could be stranded by rising waters.
The whole staff made good use of the extra clothes that everyone brought. And my colleagues greatly appreciated Darla's fresh-brewed coffee and microwave popcorn at 3 a.m. (Our house still had power.)
As day was breaking, my team responded to a water rescue. We just missed it, arriving as crews were leaving. But as we joined the parade of rescue vehicles, the tones went off on the radio. The crews were dispatched to a second rescue at the same location. Another car carrying two people went into the water at the same place.
So my team headed there after the emergency vehicles. Unfortunately, due to some confusion at the scene, we missed the rescue, but I still managed to get some compelling shots of the scene.
Then with daylight, we used the four-wheel drive ability to check out some hard-hit areas, taking pictures and getting interviews. Darla joined us for that part.
Mid-afternoon, the staff met at the dark office to share info and discuss stories. Then after more than 30 hours on the job, I headed home to sack out. I slept for 18 hours and then returned to the office on Saturday to meet with the staff to get our story assignments.
Monday, I came to work expecting an abbreviated sports section. But over the weekend sports went on unexpectedly, so I ended up having a full sports section on top of my storm coverage. The Lord was good and I finished everything in due time, even taking on more of the layout responsibilities of my position.
We end up with a top-notch paper. And I'll end up with overtime pay!
Posted by JRC at September 24, 2003 09:31 PM