Sudduth Ready With Remote Camera Provided With Storm Cases To Capture Live Videos Of Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike had chased residents to move way from the Texas coast and Mark Sudduth is chasing the storm to capture it in photos and videos to enable the scientists study the nature of the storm. But Sudduth gets distinguished from other adventure seekers and enthusiasts with his remote battery- powered video cameras which are packed in watertight cases. Sudduth, 37, and a resident of Wilmington, North Carolina opines that this camera have proved to be extremely helpful when the storms are strong and people can have videos without risking their lives.

It had happened quite a few times in the past when the journalists had to make their way back after the storms had grown strong. But the remore- camra system which was brought into use during the Hurricane Katrina in 2005 had eliminated this problem. Sudduth might be the first man to have captured a live streaming video from inside a Hurricane. Mike Watkins, Sudduth’s colleague had accompanied him to the Texas coast on Thursday.

They had planned to set up four storm cases between Port Lavaca and Galveston on Friday. After the setups are established, the idea would be to return to their motel just to watch their video feeds from a safe distance. Hurricane Ike is expected to be an enormous storm with an anticipated velocity of over 100 mph on late Friday and early Saturday.

In the year 2004, Sudduth equipped Isuzu Rodeo with weather- measuring equipment for the purpose of collection of data on the storms. But their opration was challenged when they got trapped in their vehicles when there was a sudden change of path of the Hurricane Charley. This made Sudduth to think of some better arrangement. This led to the development of his remote- camera “storm-cases”.

The arrangement consists of high as well as low technology and each of them possesses two high- resolution small cameras extending from the case by means of a 60 foot cable. This can be mounted on top of a building or a pole and directed towards the sea. A VCR equipped with a nine- hour video-tape is provided inside the case. Tape has been preferred over the digital files because tapes are less susceptible to saltwater.

One camera is connected with the VCR while the other networks with a laptop that can record live video for eighteen hours. Power comes from two 75- pound marine batteries. Each of the cases costs around $1800. The first live video made possible by the use of these cases was that of Hurricane Katrina from Gulfport, Mississippi. Since, then Sudduth has also been successful in capturing streaming live videos the Hurricane Rita and the Hurricane Wilma.

It needs to be mentioned that Sudduth storm cases were purchased by CNN to capture live videos of Hurricane Gustav. Subscribers to Sudduth’s website Hurricanetrack dot com would have the luck to view the streaming video. And all the data related to the storms are sent through e- mails to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Truly, when Sudduth compresses the long hours of video to form short films, it creates a dramatic effect!

But many people have criticized Sudduth as they are of the opinion that he is monetizing other people’s disaster. But Sudduth argues that everything is for scientific researches. Matching of the visual records with that of the meteorological records would help explain many phenomena. cnn