The man behind all of that is Shaun King (Twitter @ShaunKing).  While many in Atlanta have returned to their normal lives, the people who lost everything to the flood are still dealing with their lives upside down and King is right there next to them, doing everything he can do to help out.  He says he doesn’t want the aftermath of the Atlanta Floods to be anything like those of Katrina.

The folks at HopeATL.com are still looking for support.  Check them out online to see how you can get involved.  In the meantime, they have produced this video to highlight their efforts so far.  It is a nicely shot and edited piece.  I’d even go so far as to say it is “broadcast quality”.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OocR2jUpsRc

My experience during this event has been different than in the past.  With my background as a reporter, I’m used to being “in the field” during breaking news.  In many ways, I prefer to be where the story is.  But this week, I’ve been in the newsroom,  monitoring viewer submitted photos and videos and social networks.

For thoughts on the local media’s social media response My Urban Report has a great summary of the action.  I appreciate the nod is Amani’s analysis.

Another big nod goes to the Atlanta Twitter and non-mainstream media community.  The folks out there did a great job of keeping each other informed of the developments, even organizing the conversation with the #atlflood and #atlfloods hashtags.

Here at the station, I’m looking forward to the after action review of our coverage.  As usual, our team of journalists did an extraordinary job covering the story.  That being said, I think we are learning some important lessons about our engagement in social media during big stories like the flood.  We have a handful of reporters who have been tweeting constantly, our challenge is exposing the Twitter community to our reporters.

By monitoring Twitter, our newsroom was exposed to more breaking news as it happened.  Obviously there are a lot of rumors, but our assignment editors were able to take the Tweet leads and work towards independent confirmation.

Finally, I was amazed at the number of pictures and video people submitted to our website, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, etc.  Armed with little more than cell phone cameras in most instances, people were able to contribute greatly to the overall news coverage of the widespread flooding.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wH-e_rQABg

As I said earlier, I haven’t had a chance to decompress yet.  But I’ll work towards more analysis in the coming days.

A nice, fluffy, white cloud was just above us, contrasting beautifully against a deep blue sky.  The contrast of white against blue was amplified even more by the polarizing effect of the tinted glass sunroof.

Above, is a quick picture I was able to snap with my BlackBerry.  (Shea’s digital camera didn’t have a memory card.  Doh!)

11Alive Meteorologist Chesley McNeil.

Over the past few days, temperatures in the Atlanta area have dropped, bringing a blast of winter to the South in Spring.  Meteorologists have been warning viewers about the cold snap and urging them to take the necessary precautions, like “protect tender vegetation”, whatever that means.

We decided to have a little fun with Chesley this morning.  Here’s what happened:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCz1Ck5R5e8

What in the World is “tender vegetation” anyway?  Is it really that important to protect it?

If you happened to count how many times Chesley said “tender vegetation” you might be eligible for some sort of prize.  Check it out.

It turns out, I was right.

I needed to shoot some aerial video for a story I’m working on about a big construction project on I-85 between Union City and Hogansville.  So, I hitched a ride on 11Alive’s SkyCam (N11TV, pronounced “one, one, tango, victor”).

While we were up in the air, I managed to take a couple of pictures with my Blackberry.

Riding shotgun, looking south towards Buckhead and Midtown. On the left, you can see the campus of Oglethorpe University. On the right side of the image, inside the helicopter, you can see the "talent light". We put a blue gel in front if it to make the artificial light match the color of the sunlight.

Inside 11Alive's Skycam I can watch two monitors. On the left, I can watch the over-the-air feed of WXIA-TV. On the right, I can view the helicopters on-board cameras. There are four cameras in all. The main camera is mounted under the nose. There is a camera that looks over the pilot's shoulder out the front. There is a camera pointed at the reporter. And, there is a camera mounted on the helicopter's tail boom, looking forward.

This is the view looking over the pilot's shoulder.

The Concourse at Landmark Center in Sandy Springs. These two buildings are commonly referred to as the "King and Queen".

On approach to the DeKalb-Peachtree Airport from the Northwest. This is the view looking towards the Southeast. That's Runway 16 ahead.

Pulling up to the hangar. That's Fox 5's (WAGA-TV) helicopter already on the ground.

11Alive SkyCam, Helicopter N11TV on the ground at the DeKalb-Peachtree Airport.

Storm clouds and lightning hover over the Atlanta skyline Wednesday February 18, 2009. (Photo by: Shane Durrance)

Atlanta photographer Shane Durrance broke out the camera and the rain gear again last night.  He captured some impressive and haunting pictures of the Atlanta skyline covered with a blanket of clouds and streaked with lightning.

The images amazingly capture the beauty and power of nature.

[nggallery id=1]

I first became aware of Shane’s work when he e-mailed his amazing picture of the Atlanta tornado to 11Alive.

Shane was the only person (that I know of) who was able to actually capture an image of the tornado as it ripped through Downtown Atlanta on March 14th, 2008.  He says he was just in the right place at the right time.

A tornado (far left) is seen as it rips through Downtown Atlanta on March 14, 2008. (Photo by: Shane Durrance)

If you’re interested, Shane sells prints of that Atlanta Tornado picture on his website.