ARLINGTON, Texas, Aug. 29, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Cinematographer and veteran storm chaser Martin Lisius remembers the fierce winds, catastrophic flooding and other obstacles he and his team of photographers battled to capture the fury of Hurricane Katrina on film when the historic storm made landfall on the Gulf coast one year ago.
Lisius, founder of StormStock, the world's largest storm footage library, and the StormStock team positioned themselves at strategic locations along the coast from Florida to Louisiana before the hurricane's arrival. "It was clear to me the day before Katrina made landfall in the Gulf that it had potential to become the costliest storm in U.S. history," Lisius said. "Of course, it went well beyond that."
Footage highlights include a high water rescue attempt, storm surge sweeping off the Gulf, and structures failing in the powerful winds.
Lisius recorded dramatic images of Katrina on 35mm motion picture film and high-definition video. "We were able to capture the usual things like horizontal rain, trees bending over and debris flying through the air and scraping across the ground," he said. "But the most amazing scene we encountered was in Moss Point, Mississippi, where we came upon a parking lot flooded by storm surge. People were stranded inside the hotel, staring down from the upper floors when a high water rescue team arrived. The rescue team braced against winds gusting to 110 mph to search for victims in flooded vehicles. It made for some very powerful imagery."
Other StormStock photographers videotaped powerful storm surge rushing into the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum in Biloxi and roofs flying through the air in Gulfport.
Over the past year, footage shot by StormStock has appeared in numerous programs about Hurricane Katrina including PBS's "NOVA," shows by the Discovery Channel and National Geographic, and in Spike Lee's newly-released "When the Levees Broke."
The StormStock team photographs high quality weather footage for licensed use in film and television productions. StormStock is a trademark of Prairie Pictures, Inc., a film production company based in Arlington, Texas. Sample clips can be viewed on-line at http://www.stormstock.com.
Media representatives can access photographs and other information for use with this press release at http://www.prairiepictures.com/media_resource_center.html.