A team of Associated Press journalists, many working outside their native formats, overcame difficult access and logistical hurdles to produce fast, distinctive, widely used coverage of the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian in South Florida and South Carolina.
From the start, visuals made a difference. Miami photojournalists Wilfredo Lee and Marta Lavandier made striking photos of the destruction from the air, just before the airspace over southwest Florida was shut down. New Orleans-based photographer Gerald Herbert traveled to hard-hit Pine Island for evacuations, taking photos and video while also feeding details for the text story. And Virginia’s Steve Helber made heavily played drone photos and video of the collapsed causeway to Sanibel Island.
The team routinely collaborated across formats. Video journalist Robert Bumstead worked with his New York colleague, reporter Bobby Calvan, to document the work of freelance rescuers. New Orleans correspondent Rebecca Santana delivered text, photos and video from a poor neighborhood particularly hard-hit by the storm. Text reporter Adriana Gomez Licon also had photos and video from inland river flooding in the town of North Port.
In South Carolina, reporter Meg Kinnard wrote about a wedding nearly canceled, sharing a byline with enterprise journalist Allen Breed, who produced photos and video. On Florida's western coast, photographer Rebecca Blackwell managed to get to devastated Fort Myers Beach, making images of destruction and struggling residents. In the center of the state, reporter Mike Schneider shot photos to accompany his story of people getting flooded as the water kept rising — four days after the storm.
A person is transported out of the Avante nursing home in Orlando, Fla., Sept. 29, 2022, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
AP Photo / John Raoux
The bridge leading from Fort Myers to Pine Island, Fla., lies heavily damaged in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Oct. 1, 2022, leaving the island accessible only by boat or air.
AP Photo / Gerald Herbert
A section of the Sanibel Causeway lies collapsed in Fort Myers, Fla., Sept. 29, 2022, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
AP Photo / Steve Helber
Residents check on neighbors in a flooded area of Orlando, Fla., Sept. 29, 2022.
AP Photo / Phelan M. Ebenhack
Damaged homes and debris in Fort Myers Beach, Sept. 29, 2022, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
AP Photo / Wilfredo Lee
A car drives through high water in Charleston, S.C., Sept. 30, 2022, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
AP Photo / Alex Brandon
Seen from a damaged home, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter takes off from Sanibel Island, Fla., carrying people affected by Hurricane Ian, Sept. 30, 2022.
AP Photo / Steve Helber
Eduardo Tocuya carries a dog he recovered in hopes of reuniting it with its owners, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Sept. 30, 2022, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
AP Photo / Rebecca Blackwell
In the wreckage of Red Coconut RV Park in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Holly Ciaglia, left, kisses partner Evan Mackay after they found, then lost, and found again an unbroken bottle of champagne, bought to celebrate their new life in the barrier island community, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Sept. 30, 2022. After visiting Fort Myers Beach for 18 years, the couple had purchased in Red Coconut three weeks earlier.
AP Photo / Rebecca Blackwell
Furniture and personal items lie jumbled in the living room of Nita Ross, 79, as she returned to her mobile home for the first time since Hurricane Ian, at the Sunshine Mobile Home Park in Fort Myers, Fla., Oct. 1, 2022. Ross’ home stayed on its foundations, unlike those of some of her neighbors, but flooding almost to the ceiling destroyed most of her possessions and household items.
AP Photo / Rebecca Blackwell
On Pine Island, Fla., Oct. 1, 2022, Dirk Russell, who has medical issues, lies on the sofa in his waterlogged home, flooded by Hurricane Ian on Pine Island, Fla., Oct. 1, 2022. With the only bridge to the island heavily damaged by Hurricane Ian, it can only be reached by boat or air.
AP Photo / Gerald Herbert
Water floods a damaged trailer park in Fort Myers, Fla., Oct. 1, 2022, three days after Hurricane Ian.
AP Photo / Steve Helber
Debris is piled up at the end of a cove in Barefoot Beach, Fla., Sept. 29, 2022, following heavy winds and storm surge caused by Hurricane Ian.
AP Photo / Marta Lavandier
Residents behind a makeshift warning sign clean up their flood-damaged property in North Port, Fla., Oct. 4, 2022.
AP Photo / Chris O'Meara
A section of the bridge leading to Pine Island lies in ruins in Matlacha, Fla., Oct. 2, 2022, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
AP Photo / Gerald Herbert
Also keeping AP ahead of the competition were photographers Chris O’Meara and John Raoux in Florida, and Washington-based Alex Brandon in South Carolina; Miami video journalists Cody Jackson and Daniel Kozin, who provided live shots during the storm, then ran out to tell stories of the aftermath; and Florida reporters Terry Spencer, Tim Reynolds and Curt Anderson.
AP’s sweeping coverage received extraordinary play across formats. The hurricane team had five of the top seven stories on AP News for the week, with well over 3 million views. The video team produced more than 200 hurricane-related edited pieces, including 16 of AP’s 20 most-used consumer videos of the week.
Helber’s drone footage of the collapsed causeway was used extensively and even written about by The New York Times. The paper also used one of his drone photos, along with Lee’s aerials, to construct a full page before-and-after package of the destruction. And one of Lee’s photos dominated The Washington Post’s front page with a five-column lead image.
Not to be overlooked, just days after Ian, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ran an evocative slideshow observance during their game. Every photo from the hurricane scene was AP’s.