Current TV [1] is running some amazing footage from Hurricane Katrina today. They have five segments, adding up to an hour long program, filmed by Doug Kiesling, a freelance Weather Journalist. My wife and I watched it from 7-8 AM. It is next on at 11 AM (then presumably 3 PM, etc.).
Doug went to New Orleans to cover Hurricane Katrina. And he did cover it, driving around the city throughout the entire storm, filming it as it happened. The footage is amazing. The first segment shows New Orleans the day before Katrina hits when many still thought the hurricane would miss the city and few people were taking it seriously enough. The second segment covers the hours just before the storm hits. Doug talks with levee personnel and people who stayed on as the hurricane approaches. Up to that point, his footage is interesting, but not really amazing. It is from the third segment on that it is hard to look away. The third segment is filmed along Canal St. DURING the hurricane. No one else is on the road other than the police as debris flies around and the water rises. As Doug is filming, he begins to realize just how bad things are getting and decides to get the hell out. The fourth segment shows his attempts to get out as flood waters occasionally reach OVER the hood of his truck. Whatever kind of truck he had, it performed amazingly under conditions you are NOT supposed to be driving in! Finally he escapes and reaches his hotel. The fifth segment shows the aftermath and tells the horrible statistic that 20% of New Orleans' population were so poor they had no resources to evacuate the city. They were stuck there...abandoned by our government.
Once again I am reminded that some of the best journalism being done in America is not on the mainstream media...it is on places like Current TV, Salon.com, Democracy Now, etc.
They will be showing this hour-long footage all day. Go here for their TV schedule [2]. And to find the channel that shows Current TV in your area, go here [3].
And let me just remind our readers that many victims of Hurricane Katrina continue to be victimized by insurance companies that refuse to help them. In Mississippi (which was hit even harder than New Orleans), a pro-consumer progressive is running for Insurance Commissioner. This could be the last chance for the victims of Katrina in Mississippi to get the help they need. Help Democracy for America to help elect Gary Anderson as Mississippi Insurance Commissioner [4].
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