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Radar Image of Ultimate
Chase's Location During Hurricane Charley ! |
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Hurricane Charley Satellite
Image and Final Track: |
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Hurricane Charley Video: |
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Hurricane Charley Gas Station (Part 1): Exclusive
Video of one of the strongest wind gust ever
recorded on video inside a Hurricane's inner eyewall.
At the 03:08 mark in this video you will witness a
Category 5 wind gust estimated over 155mph !! |
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Hurricane Charley Mission (Part 2): The ENTIRE
Hurricane Charley mission with all scenes. |
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Other
Links: |
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Hurricane Charley Photos: |
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Video
still image of extreme wind gust over 155 MPH inside
the eyewall of Hurricane Charley !! |
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Before Eyewall |
Before Eyewall |
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After
Eyewall (Taken while in the eye) |
After
Eyewall (Taken while in the eye) |
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Hurricane Charley Stock Video Stills and Photos
Copyright © Ultimate Chase Video Services |
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High
Resolution Satellite Photo Of Charlotte Harbor in
2002. Photo courtesy of
NASA |
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Aerial
Photo Of Charlotte Harbor (2002):
This arrow points to the location of the Race Trac
gas station on US Hwy 41 in Charlotte Harbor. This
arrow also represents the wind direction when the
gas station awning was ripped to shreds by winds
over 160mph in the northern eyewall. |
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Location
1:
Ultimate Chase's location at the Race Trac
Gas Station |
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This is the location of the race trac gas
station. This area was devastated as the
north-eastern eyewall of Hurricane Charley
crossed with a super intense wind gust that
lasted for approximately 5 minutes ! This
intense southeast wind blast blew across
peace river unobstructed and slammed into
Charlotte Harbor. |
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Location
2:
Charlotte County Regional Medical Center |
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National Hurricane Center lists an
un-official wind gust of 150knots from this
location. This equates to 173mph !! |
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Hurricane Charley Chase
Account: |
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Chase Account:
While all the forecast tracks were agreeing on a landfall in
the Tampa/St. Pete area, I didn't fully commit to this area
because I know that it really is impossible for humans or
computers to forecast a track of a Hurricane with 100 %
accuracy and I always stay prepared for all possibilities. I
posted up at a data stop just south of the skyway bridge and
knew this bridge would be closed as soon as the winds
reached tropical storm force. The areas projected to be hit
were on the north side of the bridge, but from the radar
trends I wasn't sold on it making it that far north. I
didn't want to cross the bridge to the north in fear of not
being able to cross it back to the south if the hurricane
started it's eastward turn earlier than project. I finally
realized it was going to come in around the Ft. Myers area,
So I blasted south to Ft. Myers to find a good location to
get shots. I started hearing reports of Charley intensifying
rapidly and I knew instantly this was going to be a "Huge"
story. I stayed the night before at a hotel in this area and
everyone was taking it lightly because they believed it
would hit Tampa. I noticed allot of people that didn't
evacuate and knew this was going to be catastrophic. Just as
I found a good solid parking garage to use as a base, I
noticed on radar that Charley wobbled a bit to the north and
this would bring landfall into the Charlotte Harbor area, So
I blasted back to the north and arrived into Charlotte
Harbor, just 1 mile north-west of Punta Gorda. I was going
to go to Punta Gorda, But liked Charlotte Harbor better
because the winds would be coming off the water and this
would guarantee the maximum winds this storm had to offer. |
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I arrived into
Charlotte Harbor just minutes before landfall and didn't
have much time to scope out the area for shots, So I picked
the first spot I saw that looked like it had a few strong
structures and parked my truck next to a gas station. It was
wild how the winds were only around 50mph and suddenly
increased to over 100 mph in only moments. I witnessed a
patch of pine trees bend with the wind, then snap like twigs
with a super strong gust that almost flipped my truck over.
I knew then the real show was about to begin and I had to go
back to the gas station I had scoped out moments earlier. I
knew this gas station awning was going to go, But I didn't
know if it would all go in one piece like a kite, or if it
would go piece by piece. Just as I thought the location I
was at was relatively safe, a large telephone pole landed
behind my truck with a huge transformer on it that made a
really loud crashing sound when it hit the ground. I moved
forward a few feet and positioned my vehicle as close to the
building as I could, but I knew I was stuck at this location
during the eyewall because it was too dangerous to move
around now and my truck would just be flipped over if I did.
A large piece of a roof went flying by and slammed into the
back of my truck and blew out my side window and rain got
all over my laptop and the rest of my equipment. The rain
was so thick and the wind was blowing so hard I couldn't see
more than 30 feet away and I knew this was the eyewall and
it probably wouldn't last very long since it was so small
and compact and the hurricane was moving in quickly. I
started to film..... The really intense winds lasted for
about 15 minutes. I kept saying to myself, "OK, the winds
can't possibly get any higher than this, can they?" and they
did! I never have been in a Hurricane this strong to compare
it to, but have heard reports of a recorded wind gust of
173mph close by and believe this to be true. Anyway, the sky
got really bright and the winds dropped off instantly and I
knew I had nailed this one perfect as I was in the eye of
this beast. I measured 942mb on my barometer and knew I had
to find a better place to go for shelter for the second half
of the storm. The destruction was "Unreal" as this was my
first glimpse around because it was impossible to see during
the intense eyewall. The calm eye only lasted for about 3-5
minutes and I was getting shots from inside the eye when all
of a sudden I was caught off guard by the winds and had to
take refuge in a bathroom of a half destroyed antique shop
that had all it's windows blown in. The winds started
howling and I heard nothing but breaking glass, so I decided
to stay in this bathroom and not worry about getting shots
because it was too dangerous with the flying glass
everywhere. While I was in the bathroom part of the roof
came crashing down in the shop and I knew then I would have
to ride out the rest of the storm in this small room for
safety. I did get cut from glass on my arm, but nothing too
bad. My heart goes out for the deceased and the families
that lost everything ! Stay Strong ! |
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Photographer, |
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Website copyright notice below: |
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Hurricane Charley video stills are copyrighted and
protected under United States and International copyright |
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laws. These video stills may not be reproduced in
any form, downloaded, stored, or manipulated |
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without prior permission from © Ultimate Chase, Inc. |
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