Pete Delkus Recounts Covering Hurricane Katrina for WFAA

First Assignment: Hurricane Katrina

• ✈️ Pete Delkus recounts his first major field assignment for WFAA, covering Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, just months after joining the station.
• 💡 The experience of flying into New Orleans while others evacuated felt surreal, akin to being in a movie.
• 📍 Delkus was initially positioned in New Orleans but was moved to Baton Rouge due to the storm's shifting track, focusing on ensuring signal transmission.

Experience in the Field

• ⏳ The WFAA crew spent over a week reporting on the catastrophic storm, operating out of Baton Rouge from the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security.
• 🚗 Driving across bridges from New Orleans to Baton Rouge was unnerving as winds picked up and water splashed onto the interstate.
• 💨 Delkus developed a skill for accurately estimating wind speeds with an anemometer, a positive outcome from years of field reporting in severe weather.

Impact and Perspective

• 💔 Delkus emphasizes that Katrina, despite his prior hurricane experience in Orlando, was uniquely impactful and stuck with him.
• ⚠️ He has never been a meteorologist who