Covering Hurricane Fiona

September 26 was a Monday. I woke up early and took a quick look at The Globe & Mail. One of my images was on the cover, along with other papers.

Brian “Smokey” Osmond

I went back down to the 1st cove and saw Brian “Smokey” Osmond. I met Brian the day before and recorded some video of him however the audio came out in mono so it wasn’t good.

Brian’s story hit hard. I am good with keeping my composure in situations but Brian’s put some tears into my eyes. During the storm, he was standing near his door and suddenly a big wave came in and dragged him out. Next thing he knew, he was under water grabbing at anything he could. The water was dragging him out and he was fighting for his life. Brian thought he was “gone”. His eyes teared up, my eyes teared up.

After fighting for his life, a hand would eventually reach down and pick him up. Dragging him closer to shore. It was Brian’s brother, Stuart. Brian got him inside and took his clothes off, quickly wrapped him in a blanket.

I would later photograph Brian’s hands for the Globe & Mail. Although 5 days later, you can still see the blue underneath his hands from his attempt to get a grip on anything. His legs were also skinned.

Something you’ll need to know about Brian is, he’s not usually a public guy. Locals tell me he’d never talk to the media in a normal situation.

Brian didn’t like to stick around but was always chatty with me, so as he went off, I continued along my way.

Enter Amy Osmond.

Amy’s house was damaged. On the previous day, Amy was out looking for any items she could find that was from her house. Scouring the coast line looking for any of her processions.

For people outside these areas, clean up was commencing meanwhile Ground Search & Rescue crews were doing mental health checkins.

I would head down to the third cove and this is where I’d capture my first photo of David Robin Ingram.

David was gifted a teddy when he was five by his mother, he’s kept it ever since as a keepsake. I happened to capture the below image of David right after he found it. We’ll talk more about David later.

From here, it was off to the town hall.

I had an exchange with premier Andrew Furey before my meeting of him at the town hall. He jumped off a helicopter and went into the same hotel as me, he said hello as he passed by. The premier was hosting a media briefing and I was hoping to meet up with one of the Global News guys for a follow up conversation. I walked in the front door of the town hall. Little did I know, it was be an embarrassing way to meet the premier a second time.

Upon arriving at the town hall, I asked the city staff, is there a washroom near by that I can use? Her response was, certainly. She took me into the staff area, walked up to a door, opened it and said, here it is.

I walked in and lone behold who was standing next to me in the single bathroom but premier Andrew Furey. I stepped back out, embarrassed. Someone behind me said, there is actually a line at which point the town staff said there are two bathrooms and opened the second door.

After this embarrassing introduction, I was on my way upstairs to the briefing room. I had my chat with the friendly GlobalTV reporter, captured an image of Andrew Furey and left again.

For now, this is where I am gonna wrap things up. I’ll continue in a part 2 of my Hurricane Fiona coverage tomorrow.