Hurricane Katrina-2 (© Greg Nordstrom 2005)

[sponsler]

You're reaction is EXACTLY like mine during jeanne. I kept saying "unbelievable"...LOL

[sponsler]

This is INSANE Greg! Watching as I type. What happened to the guys in the rain coats? You can clearly see how it's picking up in intensity. Were you literally shaking from excitement while filming?

[LDCTSTORMCHASER]

I hate to say it but one of those guys was me... I just wanted to experience extreme winds once! Pretty dumb looking back on it... Of course it was exciting/intense but the shaking was from the winds... The winds were blowing so hard even the brick was shaking...

[sponsler]

I can relate. And like you said, video doesn't do it justice. Did you see my 'video of video of Jeanne' YouTube post? I think I say unbelievable in that. I kept trying to adjust the contrast so that it would look on video the way it looked in reality (i.e.- whiteout). I was right on the ocean and it seemed like I could feel a combo of ground quivering and building fighting to resist the wind

[stormhunter27]

It was a bit insane. We were pretty far above the surge (Mike Theiss got hit real hard) thanks to the protection of the port facilities, but we did sit there and figure out how high we needed to be so that we'd be above the surge. According to our GPS we were going to be ok, but man...

Yeah, surge scared me on that one. And then the winds...gah.

Ok, I have to know - who was that out in parking lot?!

[LDCTSTORMCHASER]

Yeah Mike Theiss and Jim Reed got nailed... Also I just checked out your Katrina videos... Unbelievable!!! I wish now I would have decided to ride it out where you guys were!!!

I hate to admit it, but that was me out there in the winds... Pretty dumb when I look back at it, but hey you live and learn... I just wanted to experience it once! If you watch the first Katrina video I posted a huge drain pipe flies feet in front of us... Thank god we were in our area of safety at that point!!!

[stormhunter27]

Hey Greg - nice stuff! Where exactly were you? We were in the Hancock Bank building parking garage. I'm trying to place where you were in relation to us.

[LDCTSTORMCHASER]

Thank you! We were just past the intersection of highway 49 and I-10 at the movie theater... It's funny because we came so close to staying at that very same parking garage but I guess I was just worried about the surge, especially when it was still a Category-5... I bet you guys got AMAZING video!!!

[triton115]

I google mapped it and the only theater I saw is a Cinemark. I assume that's where you stayed, is that correct? By the way, did the storm do anything to the theater?

[LDCTSTORMCHASER]

I honestly can't tell you the name but I'm sure that's correct if you google mapped it... The movie theater had a decent amount of wind damage!  In the front it had huge letters that said MOVIE... The M ripped off at some point and flew over the roof hitting the side of my car (It was laying next to it afterwards)... It dented it pretty good but could have been much worse... Overall though the movie theater did pretty well compared to a lot of places in Gulfport... Moderate wind damage...

[liquidstl]

oh sweet capture of lightning in the eyewall

[moviemagg]

Looks like sustained winds of around 100-MPH. Nice video, but to bad you only had two tree's in the picture. When I chase, I always try to find a location with plenty of trees.

[LDCTSTORMCHASER]

Yeah I hear you... I also wish I had a better backdrop! However when looking for a place to hide we were dealing with a Category-5 MONSTER the size of Texas, so honestly I was mainly worried about safety...

[triton115]

Actually, if you look closely, you can see a stand of large trees just beyond the other side of the parking lot behind the rain. Remember that hurricanes also produce very heavy rain that can and will reduce visibility.

[LDCTSTORMCHASER]

Very true! At times if you look at the left side of the video you can see a lot of trees in the distance... Obviously they are very hard to see in the wind and rain... If you check out the first Katrina video (1:29) I put up, I did get a close up of those trees before it got really bad... They were bending at about a 45 degree angle... By the end of strongest winds and rain you could see that MANY were snapped clean in half... Category-3 winds are a LOT stronger than most people realize!