Apparently, Nikons can't cheat death

A fire chief looks at the rain falling on the sidewalk outside the Spoleto Festival USA headquarters on George Street in downtown Charleston.

On July 11, I was out on an assignment when I was told to head to the scene of a suspected lightning strike at an important building in downtown Charleston.

A severe thunderstorm was pushing through the area, bringing hail, heavy wind and torrential rain.

When I got there, I put my work-owned Canon into a Rainsleeve and my Nikon into a plastic bag, which then went inside a shoulder bag. I took shots with the Canon, but I never removed my Nikon.

I thought it was safe.

I went on to other locations in the downtown area, photographing tourists walking through putrid floodwater on Market Street. My clothes got soaked.

It was all for a relatively routine story: Flooding is quite common here.

The Canon stayed dry. But later that evening, when I removed the bag containing my Nikon from my vehicle, I noticed that the plastic bag inside was soaked and the camera inside that was wet as well.

I placed the Nikon under a ceiling fan all day, then into a bag of rice. But the battery apparently shorted out at one point, and I think some circuitry must have been destroyed.

Regardless, my Nikon went kaput only two weeks after I got it back from the person who stole it. I delayed writing about it in hopes that I could resurrect the camera, but I had no such luck.

I suppose I've had a streak of bad luck. When it rains, it pours.

People took pictures on a flooded Market Street during the severe thunderstorm.

In hindsight, this was gross. I'm pretty sure there was sewage in them there waters.

The guy in the middle was lifting his shirt in an attempt to guard his nose from the stench.