(8 October 2005 2:00 pm)

MUMBAI: National Geographic Digital Media (formerly National Geographic Film Library) in the US has acquired the global rights to veteran storm chaser Mike Theiss’ widely publicized footage of Hurricane Katrina.

Millions of eyes were glued to Theiss’ images on their television screens. Now this footage will be forever preserved for history, science and future disaster preparation in National Geographic’s film archive.

Specialising in capturing extreme weather on video, Theiss had documented the wild fury of 13 previous hurricanes before Katrina. He has battled blinding rain, ferocious winds and catastrophic flooding to catch the stormy rages on film, narrowly missing being struck by lightning to shoot storm surges, horizontal rain, toppling trees and projectile debris. His work has brought the reality of monster storms home to viewers worldwide.

National Geographic Digital Media executive VP Matthew White says, "Theiss’ Katrina footage is real… raw and intense. It demonstrates the reality of the storm’s complexity. It’s a perfect addition to our collection.”

To view some footage, one can go to video.msn.com and search for “Extreme Katrina” under National Geographic.

National Geographic Digital Media distributes digital content globally to the education, mobile, videogame, stock footage and broadband markets, and through nationalgeographic.com. Digital Media is responsible for National Geographic’s archive and repository for all film and videotape material produced by National Geographic Television & Film (NGT&F).

It also represents footage from National Film Board of Canada, World Bank, ZDF Enterprises, WPA Film Library, ABC Australia and the White House Historical Association in select territories. Its fully catalogued, searchable database is available online at www.ngtlibrary.com.