1 00:00:18,852 --> 00:00:21,320 That has got to be a violent tornado. 2 00:00:23,323 --> 00:00:27,225 Get those kids in that basement. Get 'em in that closet. 3 00:00:28,661 --> 00:00:30,652 Get away from the windows. Get away from the windows. 4 00:00:30,797 --> 00:00:33,265 Get away! Get away! 5 00:00:37,804 --> 00:00:41,035 People underneath the girders of this overpass. 6 00:00:41,808 --> 00:00:43,673 They're still hanging on. 7 00:00:49,949 --> 00:00:51,075 Oh my God, we're having an earthquake. 8 00:00:51,217 --> 00:00:53,117 Wait a minute. Hold on. Hold on. 9 00:00:53,453 --> 00:00:57,787 Can you feel that? There go the lights. Oh! 10 00:01:10,103 --> 00:01:17,032 We have a major fire burning near San Francisco's marina district. 11 00:01:20,246 --> 00:01:23,477 We have the band now approaching the coast. 12 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:31,420 So we're just starting the long period of about 12 to 16 hours 13 00:01:31,558 --> 00:01:34,686 when we're going to experience the thrust of this hurricane. 14 00:01:49,008 --> 00:01:52,341 Can we spend most of our lives learning how to control ourselves 15 00:01:52,479 --> 00:01:53,844 and our environment? 16 00:02:02,055 --> 00:02:03,784 And suddenly, you wake up with the realization 17 00:02:03,923 --> 00:02:05,584 I am not in control. 18 00:02:57,877 --> 00:03:02,405 In cities all across the world, we go about our daily routines, 19 00:03:02,549 --> 00:03:04,813 secure in our surroundings, 20 00:03:04,951 --> 00:03:08,751 confident that our lives are orderly and predictable. 21 00:03:09,255 --> 00:03:12,247 But at any moment, that confidence can be shattered, 22 00:03:12,392 --> 00:03:17,159 as nature demonstrates that it still has the upper hand. 23 00:03:18,765 --> 00:03:20,164 When we least expect it, 24 00:03:20,300 --> 00:03:23,861 when we're least prepared, disaster can strike. 25 00:03:24,003 --> 00:03:29,669 And few disasters are as unsettling as an earthquake. 26 00:04:07,347 --> 00:04:11,681 The quake that hit San Francisco on October 17, 1989 27 00:04:11,818 --> 00:04:14,412 was actually centered 50 miles away, 28 00:04:14,554 --> 00:04:17,148 near a mountain called Loma Prieta. 29 00:04:17,290 --> 00:04:19,588 Even in an area accustomed to earthquakes, 30 00:04:19,726 --> 00:04:22,320 this one struck like a hammer. 31 00:04:23,096 --> 00:04:31,060 It was tremendous, believe me. I just held on to dear life. 32 00:04:31,771 --> 00:04:34,433 There was a sudden movement like this, 33 00:04:34,574 --> 00:04:36,633 shaking, whole store rattling. 34 00:04:36,776 --> 00:04:38,801 I mean, the roof, everything, the beams. 35 00:04:38,945 --> 00:04:43,041 My TV screen popped out, and glass began to break, 36 00:04:43,182 --> 00:04:44,149 you know, things like that. 37 00:04:44,284 --> 00:04:46,149 Big marble table flew across the room 38 00:04:46,286 --> 00:04:48,811 and shattered like glass almost. 39 00:04:53,826 --> 00:04:57,660 The Loma Prieta earthquake lasted only 15 seconds, 40 00:04:57,797 --> 00:04:59,162 but in that quarter minute, 41 00:04:59,299 --> 00:05:02,826 northern California suffered six billion dollars in damage, 42 00:05:02,969 --> 00:05:06,268 and 62 people lost their lives. 43 00:05:16,082 --> 00:05:17,879 Earthquakes are not nice. 44 00:05:18,017 --> 00:05:19,712 The ground is moving beneath one 45 00:05:19,852 --> 00:05:23,982 the very essence of stability is questioned. 46 00:05:24,157 --> 00:05:26,887 And that's quite apart from the damage, 47 00:05:27,026 --> 00:05:29,460 the destruction, the deaths. 48 00:05:29,595 --> 00:05:31,893 There's something awful about an earthquake 49 00:05:32,031 --> 00:05:33,259 and it's not fun at all. 50 00:05:33,399 --> 00:05:35,959 My guess is that earthquakes are really so scary 51 00:05:36,102 --> 00:05:38,502 because you don't have any warning. 52 00:05:38,638 --> 00:05:42,904 It's the only thing besides a nuclear war that can really 53 00:05:43,042 --> 00:05:45,237 one second you're living in a big beautiful city 54 00:05:45,378 --> 00:05:48,404 and ten seconds later, it's flat. 55 00:05:49,515 --> 00:05:53,246 Earthquakes leave their trail of destruction on every continent. 56 00:05:53,386 --> 00:05:56,355 In 1948, the city of Fukui, Japan 57 00:05:56,489 --> 00:05:58,787 was leveled by a tremor several times 58 00:05:58,925 --> 00:06:04,557 more powerful than atom bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 59 00:06:09,235 --> 00:06:13,729 Mexico city was struck by a huge earthquake in 1985. 60 00:06:13,873 --> 00:06:19,334 Nearly 10,000 died in the greatest disaster in Mexican history. 61 00:06:25,251 --> 00:06:27,310 In September 1993, 62 00:06:27,453 --> 00:06:31,150 a quake devastated the Indian state of Maharashtra. 63 00:06:31,290 --> 00:06:34,782 In spite of warning shocks, most of the victims were asleep 64 00:06:34,927 --> 00:06:37,589 when their houses collapsed around them. 65 00:06:45,271 --> 00:06:49,332 Every day the earth is shaken by hundreds of small earthquakes. 66 00:06:49,475 --> 00:06:51,136 Most go unnoticed. 67 00:06:51,277 --> 00:06:54,269 They usually occur along the boundaries of the thin plates 68 00:06:54,414 --> 00:06:56,905 that cover the earth like an eggshell. 69 00:06:57,049 --> 00:06:59,813 Driven by the heat deep within the earth's core, 70 00:06:59,952 --> 00:07:04,719 the plates grind against each other along lines call faults. 71 00:07:04,857 --> 00:07:08,657 When the plates find their motion blocked, stress builds up. 72 00:07:08,795 --> 00:07:11,320 Finally the fault gives way. 73 00:07:12,231 --> 00:07:14,324 The released energy races through the earth 74 00:07:14,467 --> 00:07:17,527 in the form of seismic waves. 75 00:07:19,839 --> 00:07:21,932 One place where the boundary between plates 76 00:07:22,074 --> 00:07:23,598 is dramatically evident 77 00:07:23,743 --> 00:07:27,440 is the 700-mile-long San Andreas fault. 78 00:07:27,580 --> 00:07:31,539 This is the source for most of California's earthquakes. 79 00:07:31,818 --> 00:07:34,514 But for California, as for much of the world, 80 00:07:34,654 --> 00:07:36,554 the movement of plates like these 81 00:07:36,689 --> 00:07:39,920 is also an indispensable creative force. 82 00:07:40,059 --> 00:07:41,083 If we didn't have earthquakes, 83 00:07:41,227 --> 00:07:43,161 if we didn't have this great flow of heat 84 00:07:43,296 --> 00:07:44,695 from the interior of the earth, 85 00:07:44,831 --> 00:07:47,629 the earth would be a cold, dead place. 86 00:07:48,267 --> 00:07:50,394 If it wasn't for this great flow of heat, 87 00:07:50,536 --> 00:07:53,835 there'd be no continents, no oceans, no atmospheres, 88 00:07:53,973 --> 00:07:57,602 the earth would be as dead and dry and cold as the moon. 89 00:07:57,944 --> 00:07:59,275 Everywhere you look in California, 90 00:07:59,412 --> 00:08:00,811 the hills are really created 91 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:04,008 by, by the action of the earthquakes, for the most part. 92 00:08:04,150 --> 00:08:04,946 It's really the earthquakes 93 00:08:05,084 --> 00:08:08,178 that create the topography, the valleys, the mountains, 94 00:08:08,321 --> 00:08:11,620 control the river streams, where things go. 95 00:08:12,758 --> 00:08:17,661 Earthquakes have been shaping the landscape of California for eons. 96 00:08:17,797 --> 00:08:20,061 It's only in the last few hundred years 97 00:08:20,199 --> 00:08:23,760 that civilization has gotten in the way. 98 00:08:23,903 --> 00:08:25,530 Around the turn of the century, 99 00:08:25,671 --> 00:08:28,572 San Francisco was a booming metropolis, 100 00:08:28,708 --> 00:08:32,667 an emblem of California's newfound prosperity. 101 00:08:37,016 --> 00:08:39,416 But on April 18, 1906, 102 00:08:39,552 --> 00:08:42,851 that prosperity was shattered by the most famous quake 103 00:08:42,989 --> 00:08:45,219 in American history. 104 00:08:49,595 --> 00:08:52,257 Most of the city was destroyed in the tremor 105 00:08:52,398 --> 00:08:54,491 and the fires that followed. 106 00:08:58,538 --> 00:09:00,597 Much of charred rubble from those fires 107 00:09:00,740 --> 00:09:05,439 was pushed into San Francisco Bay, adding to an existing landfill 108 00:09:05,578 --> 00:09:08,979 that eventually became part of the city itself. 109 00:09:09,115 --> 00:09:13,279 Today, that landfill lies beneath a section of the marina district. 110 00:09:13,419 --> 00:09:17,856 This was the area hardest hit in the 1989 quake. 111 00:09:17,990 --> 00:09:21,926 The problem here is the rubble from the tremor of 1906, 112 00:09:22,061 --> 00:09:23,528 buried underground. 113 00:09:23,663 --> 00:09:27,326 Shaken by the new quake, it literally fell apart, 114 00:09:27,466 --> 00:09:29,798 and so did much of the neighborhood. 115 00:09:33,706 --> 00:09:36,698 The practice of building on such unstable ground 116 00:09:36,842 --> 00:09:39,333 is a problem throughout the world. 117 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:43,206 Mexico city was built on top of a dried-up lake bed. 118 00:09:43,349 --> 00:09:47,752 The 1985 quake was actually centered hundreds of miles away, 119 00:09:47,887 --> 00:09:50,685 but it turned the soft land under the capital 120 00:09:50,823 --> 00:09:53,018 into a nearly liquid mass. 121 00:09:53,159 --> 00:09:55,184 The buildings simply collapsed; 122 00:09:55,328 --> 00:09:59,594 victims were crushed under tons of concrete and steel. 123 00:10:00,566 --> 00:10:02,158 It's a modern nightmare: 124 00:10:02,301 --> 00:10:05,793 Urban infrastructure crashing down around us. 125 00:10:05,938 --> 00:10:09,101 As geologists and engineers like to remind us, 126 00:10:09,241 --> 00:10:13,473 earthquakes don't kill people, buildings do. 127 00:10:15,681 --> 00:10:18,411 Certain structures, like bridges and freeways, 128 00:10:18,551 --> 00:10:21,213 are especially vulnerable to tremors. 129 00:10:21,354 --> 00:10:22,821 In San Francisco's quake, 130 00:10:22,955 --> 00:10:25,890 most of the deaths occurred on the Nimitz Freeway, 131 00:10:26,025 --> 00:10:29,586 when a one-and-a-half mile section of the upper deck collapsed 132 00:10:29,729 --> 00:10:31,697 on the roadway beneath. 133 00:10:33,332 --> 00:10:37,063 Ed McVey was driving a freight truck when it happened. 134 00:10:38,304 --> 00:10:39,032 There was no traffic. 135 00:10:39,171 --> 00:10:40,468 I was doing about 55, 136 00:10:40,606 --> 00:10:43,234 and all of a sudden it felt like I had a blowout. 137 00:10:44,343 --> 00:10:46,174 I had no control over the truck. 138 00:10:46,312 --> 00:10:47,802 Luckily, there was nobody beside me 139 00:10:47,947 --> 00:10:50,006 because I was just all over the place. 140 00:10:50,483 --> 00:10:51,745 I hit the brakes. 141 00:10:51,884 --> 00:10:52,782 In the rearview mirror, 142 00:10:52,918 --> 00:10:55,716 I could see what looked like the freeway falling, 143 00:10:55,855 --> 00:10:57,914 and that didn't make any sense. 144 00:10:58,057 --> 00:11:00,821 I saw cars and trucks disappearing underneath the rubble. 145 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:02,951 And I just knew I was dead. 146 00:11:03,796 --> 00:11:07,493 I had no way of getting out of it. There was nothing I could do. 147 00:11:16,742 --> 00:11:18,710 McVey was lucky that day: 148 00:11:18,844 --> 00:11:20,368 His truck just happened to stop 149 00:11:20,513 --> 00:11:24,973 under the only section of freeway that didn't fall. 150 00:11:26,318 --> 00:11:30,448 I don't deal with it as well as people think I do. 151 00:11:30,589 --> 00:11:33,456 I can be driving along anywhere, 152 00:11:33,592 --> 00:11:37,494 and all of a sudden I've got freeway falling down on top of me. 153 00:11:39,432 --> 00:11:42,458 Ed McVey escaped without a scratch. 154 00:11:42,601 --> 00:11:45,729 Forty-two other motorists died. 155 00:11:47,406 --> 00:11:50,307 Five years later, when an earthquake hit Los Angeles, 156 00:11:50,443 --> 00:11:53,378 there was a similar freeway collapse. 157 00:11:53,946 --> 00:11:56,437 Fortunately, the tremor struck before dawn, 158 00:11:56,582 --> 00:11:59,073 when the road was virtually empty. 159 00:11:59,719 --> 00:12:03,382 Next time this could happen at rush hour. 160 00:12:06,759 --> 00:12:09,694 Yet overall, in spite of the freeway disasters 161 00:12:09,829 --> 00:12:12,559 and the loss of some apartment buildings and houses, 162 00:12:12,698 --> 00:12:15,565 San Francisco and Los Angeles weathered their tremors 163 00:12:15,701 --> 00:12:17,168 extremely well... 164 00:12:17,303 --> 00:12:20,602 largely because most of their tall buildings were constructed 165 00:12:20,740 --> 00:12:23,208 with earthquakes in mind. 166 00:12:24,944 --> 00:12:29,438 Too often, in other parts of the world, that's not true. 167 00:12:30,416 --> 00:12:32,247 In December of 1988, 168 00:12:32,384 --> 00:12:36,650 a relatively mild tremor struck the Armenian city of Leninakan, 169 00:12:36,789 --> 00:12:40,623 and its acres of cheap, shoddily constructed housing. 170 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:43,058 Eighty percent of the city was destroyed, 171 00:12:43,195 --> 00:12:46,392 and more than 25,000 people killed. 172 00:12:46,532 --> 00:12:48,193 Specially trained dogs were brought in 173 00:12:48,334 --> 00:12:51,030 to help locate survivors and victims 174 00:12:51,170 --> 00:12:54,901 standard practice in such urban catastrophes. 175 00:13:01,814 --> 00:13:05,477 Fortunately, Leninakan was a small city. 176 00:13:05,618 --> 00:13:09,418 Tang-shan, in northern China, was not. 177 00:13:09,555 --> 00:13:13,457 Just before dawn, on July 28, 1976, 178 00:13:13,592 --> 00:13:16,459 an earthquake tore through Tang-shan. 179 00:13:16,595 --> 00:13:18,995 It was the first quake in modern history 180 00:13:19,131 --> 00:13:22,828 to score a direct hit on a major city. 181 00:13:30,309 --> 00:13:31,970 As nearly as anyone can tell, 182 00:13:32,111 --> 00:13:35,547 it left close to a quarter of a million people dead. 183 00:13:35,681 --> 00:13:37,774 Entire families were wiped out, 184 00:13:37,917 --> 00:13:40,613 so it was impossible to find out from the survivors 185 00:13:40,753 --> 00:13:43,620 exactly how many had perished. 186 00:13:45,925 --> 00:13:47,449 Besides falling buildings, 187 00:13:47,593 --> 00:13:51,393 earthquakes create other special problems in urban environments: 188 00:13:51,530 --> 00:13:53,589 Broken gas lines spark fires, 189 00:13:53,732 --> 00:13:57,532 and broken water mains can make fire fighting nearly impossible. 190 00:13:57,670 --> 00:13:59,467 We have a major fire brewing 191 00:13:59,605 --> 00:14:01,197 in San Francisco's Marina District. 192 00:14:01,340 --> 00:14:02,967 In the 1989 quake, 193 00:14:03,108 --> 00:14:04,803 the San Francisco Fire Department 194 00:14:04,944 --> 00:14:08,846 battled 34 major blazes simultaneously. 195 00:14:08,981 --> 00:14:11,040 With underground water supplies cut off, 196 00:14:11,183 --> 00:14:15,586 fireboats had to be used to pump water from San Francisco Bay. 197 00:14:18,657 --> 00:14:21,387 Unfortunately, earthquakes in large cities, 198 00:14:21,527 --> 00:14:25,520 with their accompanying horrors, are not rare events: 199 00:14:25,831 --> 00:14:29,699 When you look at a map of the world 200 00:14:29,835 --> 00:14:32,360 and plot the truly great cities of the world, 201 00:14:32,504 --> 00:14:33,766 and compare it with a map 202 00:14:33,906 --> 00:14:37,069 of the great really destructive earthquakes 203 00:14:37,209 --> 00:14:38,267 of the last thousand years, 204 00:14:38,410 --> 00:14:41,208 there's an almost one-to-one correspondence. 205 00:14:41,347 --> 00:14:44,111 I think we may find ourselves witnessing 206 00:14:44,250 --> 00:14:46,514 a large number of destructive earthquakes 207 00:14:46,652 --> 00:14:49,314 in the next three or four decades 208 00:14:49,455 --> 00:14:52,151 that is going to really horrify the world. 209 00:14:57,162 --> 00:15:00,928 The next great urban earthquake may happen in Tokyo. 210 00:15:01,066 --> 00:15:05,400 This vast metropolis, with its population of more that 27 million, 211 00:15:05,537 --> 00:15:09,997 lies near the busy intersection of three tectonic plates. 212 00:15:10,376 --> 00:15:13,368 Small tremors are an everyday occurrence here, 213 00:15:13,512 --> 00:15:17,141 and big ones strike all too frequently. 214 00:15:19,418 --> 00:15:24,720 In 1923, Tokyo was nearly destroyed by a massive earthquake. 215 00:15:24,857 --> 00:15:28,691 Much of the destruction, and most of the 140,000 deaths, 216 00:15:28,827 --> 00:15:31,091 were not caused by the quake itself, 217 00:15:31,230 --> 00:15:35,166 but by the fires that raged on for days afterward. 218 00:15:39,738 --> 00:15:43,538 September 1, the anniversary of the 1923 quake, 219 00:15:43,676 --> 00:15:47,510 is commemorated every year as "disaster day." 220 00:15:47,947 --> 00:15:52,077 Fire departments and emergency crews stage public demonstrations, 221 00:15:52,217 --> 00:15:54,515 while ordinary citizens can get a sense of 222 00:15:54,653 --> 00:15:56,848 what a major earthquake feels like, 223 00:15:56,989 --> 00:16:00,015 and try their hands at putting out fires. 224 00:16:00,492 --> 00:16:03,325 The Japanese are proud of their earthquake preparedness, 225 00:16:03,462 --> 00:16:05,521 and they have good reason to be. 226 00:16:06,932 --> 00:16:09,162 Modern Tokyo boasts some of the most advanced 227 00:16:09,301 --> 00:16:12,065 earthquake-resistant architecture in the world. 228 00:16:12,204 --> 00:16:14,502 Its skyscrapers are "smart buildings" 229 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:15,868 incorporating features 230 00:16:16,008 --> 00:16:20,536 like motion stabilizers and internal gyroscopes. 231 00:16:24,917 --> 00:16:28,216 But the vast majority of Tokyo's eight million buildings 232 00:16:28,354 --> 00:16:31,118 are older, wood-frame structures. 233 00:16:31,256 --> 00:16:33,690 They're squeezed along narrow, twisting streets 234 00:16:33,826 --> 00:16:37,387 that could prove to a night mare for fire fighters. 235 00:16:37,696 --> 00:16:38,993 To make matters worse, 236 00:16:39,131 --> 00:16:40,098 the city is fringed 237 00:16:40,232 --> 00:16:43,224 by an incendiary jumble of oil refineries, 238 00:16:43,369 --> 00:16:46,395 fuel storage tanks, and chemical plants 239 00:16:46,538 --> 00:16:51,168 much of it constructed atop unstable landfill on Tokyo Bay. 240 00:16:51,310 --> 00:16:53,642 In short, even earthquake-conscious 241 00:16:53,779 --> 00:16:57,840 Tokyo is a disaster waiting to happen. 242 00:17:05,758 --> 00:17:09,057 The unsettling reality is that no place in the world 243 00:17:09,194 --> 00:17:11,822 is completely safe from earthquakes... 244 00:17:11,964 --> 00:17:14,228 not even areas where tremors are rare, 245 00:17:14,366 --> 00:17:16,960 and preparations nonexistent. 246 00:17:17,269 --> 00:17:19,169 The eastern United States and Europe 247 00:17:19,304 --> 00:17:23,070 are hardly hotbeds of seismic activity, 248 00:17:24,676 --> 00:17:28,009 but large quakes have occurred nearly everywhere on earth 249 00:17:28,147 --> 00:17:30,206 at one time or another, 250 00:17:30,349 --> 00:17:35,048 and unlike lightning, earthquakes do strike twice. 251 00:17:35,187 --> 00:17:38,088 It's just a matter of time. 252 00:17:54,706 --> 00:17:55,934 No other force in nature 253 00:17:56,075 --> 00:17:59,806 can come close to matching the power of an earthquake - 254 00:17:59,945 --> 00:18:01,708 except one. 255 00:18:01,847 --> 00:18:04,782 Tornadoes strike with the intensity of a quake 256 00:18:04,917 --> 00:18:08,216 and the surgical precision of a guided missile. 257 00:18:10,222 --> 00:18:13,316 They have the power to fascinate as well as terrify, 258 00:18:13,459 --> 00:18:15,825 and with the advent of video camcorders, 259 00:18:15,961 --> 00:18:20,057 the terror is being well documented by home moviemakers. 260 00:18:20,199 --> 00:18:22,690 This is in Haysville, ansas. 261 00:18:26,672 --> 00:18:28,606 It's gonna' hit our house, Mom. 262 00:18:30,008 --> 00:18:33,239 Just looking for it to hit this tornado. 263 00:18:33,378 --> 00:18:37,337 Sometimes a cameraman gets more than he bargained for. 264 00:18:37,483 --> 00:18:39,144 On a lakeshore in Minnesota... 265 00:18:39,284 --> 00:18:42,742 an idyllic summer afternoon is about to be transformed 266 00:18:42,888 --> 00:18:45,049 by the arrival of a tornado. 267 00:18:45,190 --> 00:18:47,658 Look at that funnel. 268 00:18:48,627 --> 00:18:52,654 Within seconds, curiosity will be replaced by panic. 269 00:18:52,798 --> 00:18:54,459 Look here. Look at the highway trees. 270 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:55,692 A power line just went out. 271 00:18:55,834 --> 00:18:59,668 A power line just went out. Look at it. Oh... 272 00:18:59,805 --> 00:19:00,897 This is cool. 273 00:19:01,039 --> 00:19:03,599 There it goes. Here it comes. 274 00:19:03,742 --> 00:19:06,438 Here it comes. It's right out here. 275 00:19:06,578 --> 00:19:09,274 I'm ten feet from it and all the electricity, 276 00:19:09,414 --> 00:19:11,575 all the power lines are going. 277 00:19:12,184 --> 00:19:15,244 I'll film from the inside. We're filming. 278 00:19:16,822 --> 00:19:20,258 Hold it right there. Don't stand by the windows. 279 00:19:21,627 --> 00:19:25,723 There goes the windows. Oh, get away from the windows. 280 00:19:25,864 --> 00:19:30,733 Tree just blew over. Get away from the windows. 281 00:19:30,869 --> 00:19:35,363 Get away. Get away! Get away! Get away! 282 00:19:35,507 --> 00:19:39,603 Where is everybody? Where is everybody? 283 00:19:39,745 --> 00:19:40,973 Oh no! 284 00:19:41,113 --> 00:19:43,741 Where is everybody? 285 00:19:47,319 --> 00:19:48,650 Oh, my God. 286 00:19:48,787 --> 00:19:50,584 Are you guys okay? 287 00:19:53,625 --> 00:19:56,287 These tornado victims were incredibly lucky: 288 00:19:56,428 --> 00:19:59,920 There were no injuries, and only superficial damage. 289 00:20:00,365 --> 00:20:03,630 The devastation is usually far worse. 290 00:20:06,772 --> 00:20:09,468 A tornado can strike in any country. 291 00:20:09,608 --> 00:20:13,044 But more twisters develop over the midwestern United States 292 00:20:13,178 --> 00:20:15,112 than anywhere else. 293 00:20:18,317 --> 00:20:19,375 And in their wake, 294 00:20:19,518 --> 00:20:23,352 they leave a trail of destruction and despair. 295 00:20:37,102 --> 00:20:38,831 Simulated in a laboratory, 296 00:20:38,971 --> 00:20:41,997 a tornado is fairly simple to analyze. 297 00:20:42,140 --> 00:20:45,576 It's really a whirlpool of converging opposites: 298 00:20:45,711 --> 00:20:49,374 Upwelling warm air confronts down-tumbling cool; 299 00:20:49,514 --> 00:20:52,005 dry air encounters moist; 300 00:20:52,150 --> 00:20:55,608 winds aloft collide with winds below. 301 00:20:57,623 --> 00:21:01,389 In nature, that produces torrential rains, dangerous lightning 302 00:21:01,526 --> 00:21:07,089 and hail storms, and violent winds of up to 300 miles per hour. 303 00:21:10,569 --> 00:21:12,161 Tornadoes travel fast, 304 00:21:12,304 --> 00:21:16,138 especially across the flat landscape of the plains. 305 00:21:16,475 --> 00:21:17,737 When a television news crew 306 00:21:17,876 --> 00:21:21,141 found themselves trapped in the path of a ansas twister, 307 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:24,977 their only sensible option was to take cover. 308 00:21:26,918 --> 00:21:29,216 Let's go, let's go, let's go. 309 00:21:29,354 --> 00:21:30,480 Go, go, go. Shoot it. 310 00:21:30,622 --> 00:21:32,089 You better floor it. You better floor it. Shoot it. 311 00:21:32,224 --> 00:21:34,055 We're all right. Just stay here. 312 00:21:34,459 --> 00:21:36,188 You're okay. You're okay. 313 00:21:38,430 --> 00:21:40,022 Eep going, man, keep going. 314 00:21:40,165 --> 00:21:41,632 Faster? No. 315 00:21:41,767 --> 00:21:43,701 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 316 00:21:43,835 --> 00:21:46,360 Lots faster, lots faster! 317 00:21:48,006 --> 00:21:50,201 Lots faster. Greg, it's catching us! 318 00:21:50,342 --> 00:21:52,105 You gotta go, buddy. 319 00:21:53,945 --> 00:21:55,674 You gotta really go. 320 00:22:00,352 --> 00:22:03,844 You gotta blaze, buddy. Yeah, we want to jump out. 321 00:22:03,989 --> 00:22:04,853 We want to get in front of the van. 322 00:22:04,990 --> 00:22:05,649 Get under here! 323 00:22:05,791 --> 00:22:07,725 Eep rolling. Yeah, I'm rolling. 324 00:22:11,296 --> 00:22:12,763 Got it? Let's go! 325 00:22:14,466 --> 00:22:16,491 Get up under the girders! 326 00:22:16,868 --> 00:22:18,335 Get up under the girders! 327 00:22:18,470 --> 00:22:19,027 Is that where we want to go? 328 00:22:19,171 --> 00:22:22,698 Yes. Underneath the girders. 329 00:22:25,143 --> 00:22:26,405 Eep rolling. 330 00:22:35,020 --> 00:22:36,681 Hang onto the girders. 331 00:23:03,715 --> 00:23:07,151 You're all right. You're okay. 332 00:23:09,454 --> 00:23:11,615 Tornadoes are among the most destructive 333 00:23:11,757 --> 00:23:13,622 of all natural phenomena, 334 00:23:13,759 --> 00:23:15,283 and in the United States alone, 335 00:23:15,427 --> 00:23:19,363 they're responsible for dozens of deaths every year. 336 00:23:19,498 --> 00:23:21,489 But a tornado cuts a narrow path, 337 00:23:21,633 --> 00:23:25,069 and rarely lasts for more than 20 minutes. 338 00:23:27,539 --> 00:23:30,235 Even more devastating are the forces unleashed 339 00:23:30,375 --> 00:23:32,002 by tropical cyclones, 340 00:23:32,144 --> 00:23:34,078 called typhoons in the Pacific 341 00:23:34,212 --> 00:23:37,773 and hurricanes in the South Atlantic and Caribbean. 342 00:23:37,916 --> 00:23:41,079 These monster storms can be hundreds of miles wide 343 00:23:41,219 --> 00:23:42,550 and last for days, 344 00:23:42,687 --> 00:23:45,588 tearing vast swaths of destruction. 345 00:23:46,825 --> 00:23:49,350 Tropical cyclones visit some parts of the world 346 00:23:49,494 --> 00:23:51,223 with frightening regularity, 347 00:23:51,363 --> 00:23:55,299 and cause staggering losses of life and property. 348 00:23:57,769 --> 00:24:02,468 In 1970, a huge typhoon struck what was then East Pakistan, 349 00:24:02,607 --> 00:24:05,440 leaving more than 300,000 dead. 350 00:24:05,577 --> 00:24:08,705 Frustrated in part by the slow pace of relief efforts, 351 00:24:08,847 --> 00:24:11,441 the people of the region seceded a year later 352 00:24:11,583 --> 00:24:15,075 and created the new nation of Bangladesh. 353 00:24:15,220 --> 00:24:19,623 Bangladesh continues to be pummeled frequently by killer typhoons, 354 00:24:19,758 --> 00:24:21,726 made worse by storm surges 355 00:24:21,860 --> 00:24:27,230 wind-driven walls of seawater that flood this lowlying country. 356 00:24:28,733 --> 00:24:31,896 In the Western Hemisphere, the islands of the Caribbean 357 00:24:32,037 --> 00:24:34,232 and the southeast coast of the United States 358 00:24:34,372 --> 00:24:36,806 are prime targets for hurricanes. 359 00:24:36,942 --> 00:24:40,400 And the most destructive natural disaster in U.S. History 360 00:24:40,545 --> 00:24:42,342 was Hurricane Andrew... 361 00:24:42,481 --> 00:24:45,973 We have the band now approaching the coast. 362 00:24:47,352 --> 00:24:51,652 So we're just starting the long period of about 12 to 16 hours 363 00:24:51,790 --> 00:24:55,282 when we're going to experience the thrust of this hurricane. 364 00:25:03,902 --> 00:25:07,702 When Andrew struck Florida on August 23, 1992, 365 00:25:07,839 --> 00:25:11,866 its winds were clocked at 164 miles an hour, 366 00:25:12,010 --> 00:25:15,002 and they were still climbing when they broke the wind gauge 367 00:25:15,146 --> 00:25:17,706 at the National Hurricane Center. 368 00:25:19,618 --> 00:25:22,712 The storm hit hardest just south of Miami. 369 00:25:22,854 --> 00:25:24,719 Though it came and went here overnight, 370 00:25:24,856 --> 00:25:30,089 Andrew, like all natural disasters, left behind a legacy of ruin. 371 00:25:30,228 --> 00:25:32,458 It created massive environmental damage 372 00:25:32,597 --> 00:25:35,031 that could last for generations. 373 00:25:35,166 --> 00:25:39,193 For the survivors, life would never be the same. 374 00:25:39,337 --> 00:25:42,670 No insurance. My car is devastated, 375 00:25:42,807 --> 00:25:44,172 but I'm not the only one. You know, 376 00:25:44,309 --> 00:25:46,607 there's quite a few people that are going through the same thing. 377 00:25:46,745 --> 00:25:48,610 Look all around. 378 00:25:51,816 --> 00:25:53,875 It's a very lost feeling. 379 00:25:59,090 --> 00:26:05,996 Pictures of the family. That's my niece and my great... 380 00:26:25,784 --> 00:26:28,776 Before it began its rampage across South Florida, 381 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:31,252 Andrew was born, like most hurricanes, 382 00:26:31,389 --> 00:26:34,324 as a cloud disturbance off the African coast. 383 00:26:34,459 --> 00:26:39,396 Swirling storms are formed when warm, moist air rises and cools. 384 00:26:39,531 --> 00:26:42,830 The storms grow larger and faster as they race westward, 385 00:26:42,968 --> 00:26:44,868 developing into violent cyclones 386 00:26:45,003 --> 00:26:48,837 that can rip through the west Atlantic from June to November. 387 00:26:48,974 --> 00:26:52,933 The hurricane's center, known as the eye, remains calm, 388 00:26:53,078 --> 00:26:56,206 but the eye walls are packed with intense thunderstorms 389 00:26:56,348 --> 00:26:58,908 that generate fierce, gusty winds. 390 00:26:59,050 --> 00:27:03,384 And winds have rarely been as savage as Andrew's. 391 00:27:13,398 --> 00:27:16,834 The storm left a total of 62 people dead. 392 00:27:16,968 --> 00:27:20,836 And it left parts of South Florida a wasteland. 393 00:27:20,972 --> 00:27:24,567 This hurricane caused more destruction of property 394 00:27:24,709 --> 00:27:26,404 than any other natural disaster 395 00:27:26,544 --> 00:27:28,068 in the history of the United States. 396 00:27:28,213 --> 00:27:32,673 We're talking in the order of 15 to 30 billion dollars. 397 00:27:34,352 --> 00:27:36,286 It could have been much worse. 398 00:27:36,421 --> 00:27:39,686 Andrew missed the densely populated center of Miami 399 00:27:39,824 --> 00:27:42,088 by only 20 miles. 400 00:27:42,227 --> 00:27:47,893 As it was, 160,000 people were forced from their homes. 401 00:27:54,572 --> 00:27:57,040 Besides the thousands of personal tragedies, 402 00:27:57,175 --> 00:27:59,735 there was an immense environmental problem. 403 00:27:59,878 --> 00:28:00,867 In one day, 404 00:28:00,945 --> 00:28:04,938 hurricane Andrew created at least three million tons of garbage... 405 00:28:05,083 --> 00:28:07,415 There was enough burnable debris to fuel fires 406 00:28:07,552 --> 00:28:13,184 at more than a hundred sites at some of them 24 hours a day. 407 00:28:15,527 --> 00:28:17,017 The smoke was bad enough, 408 00:28:17,162 --> 00:28:20,859 but Andrew created other, more insidious dangers. 409 00:28:25,637 --> 00:28:27,036 Mike Palmer's specialty 410 00:28:27,172 --> 00:28:30,403 is containing hazardous and toxic spills. 411 00:28:30,542 --> 00:28:32,840 After Andrew, he and his crew sifted 412 00:28:32,977 --> 00:28:36,743 through devastated neighborhoods for household hazards. 413 00:28:38,083 --> 00:28:41,018 Now, what you may normally see with one house 414 00:28:41,152 --> 00:28:44,144 and the typical chemicals they'll have like, you know, 415 00:28:44,289 --> 00:28:47,588 a small thing of acetone or a thing of brake fluid, 416 00:28:47,726 --> 00:28:50,593 and here's some clear stain you know, 417 00:28:50,729 --> 00:28:52,287 you'd say well what's the big deal? You know, 418 00:28:52,430 --> 00:28:56,298 what's how bad could this really be to the environment? 419 00:28:56,434 --> 00:28:57,992 Well, you know, if I opened this up, 420 00:28:58,136 --> 00:29:00,764 and I poured it on the ground here, 421 00:29:00,905 --> 00:29:03,601 you know, would it absolutely contaminate the groundwater 422 00:29:03,742 --> 00:29:04,470 for this whole area? 423 00:29:04,609 --> 00:29:05,576 No, it probably wouldn't. 424 00:29:05,710 --> 00:29:06,642 But we don't have that here. 425 00:29:06,778 --> 00:29:09,576 What we got here is we've got these quantities or more 426 00:29:09,714 --> 00:29:11,682 in every single house. 427 00:29:11,816 --> 00:29:15,980 And if this equipment comes in here and they rupture these containers 428 00:29:16,121 --> 00:29:18,089 and it goes in the environment all at once like that, 429 00:29:18,223 --> 00:29:19,815 it is too much. 430 00:29:28,099 --> 00:29:30,727 This is only a fraction of the hazardous waste 431 00:29:30,869 --> 00:29:34,066 recovered from the wreckage of thousands of homes. 432 00:29:34,205 --> 00:29:39,438 No one knows how much toxic material remained unaccounted for. 433 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:45,509 In the chaos following a natural disaster like Hurricane Andrew, 434 00:29:45,650 --> 00:29:49,142 human survival is the first priority. 435 00:29:49,487 --> 00:29:51,887 But animals are victims too. 436 00:29:52,023 --> 00:29:56,221 Miami's Metrozoo lay directly in Andrew's path. 437 00:29:56,928 --> 00:29:58,896 The zoo suffered serious losses, 438 00:29:59,030 --> 00:30:01,863 including hundreds of prized tropical birds, 439 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:04,298 and five large mammals. 440 00:30:04,435 --> 00:30:08,201 Miraculously, most of the animals came through unharmed, 441 00:30:08,339 --> 00:30:10,136 even though they were out in the open, 442 00:30:10,275 --> 00:30:13,540 exposed to the fierce intensity of the storm. 443 00:30:13,678 --> 00:30:16,340 No one knows quite how they survived, 444 00:30:16,481 --> 00:30:19,177 because no one was around to watch. 445 00:30:22,887 --> 00:30:25,048 Many of the zoo's exhibits were ruined. 446 00:30:25,190 --> 00:30:28,819 And it will take decades to replace the crucial shade trees. 447 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:33,021 But the long process of recovery began right away. 448 00:30:33,965 --> 00:30:35,455 I've received checks and letters 449 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:39,434 from every state in the country supporting the zoo. 450 00:30:39,571 --> 00:30:40,560 People who've never heard from before. 451 00:30:40,705 --> 00:30:43,435 People who've never been here. 452 00:30:43,575 --> 00:30:46,908 And I think one of the most moving things in that whole situation was, 453 00:30:47,045 --> 00:30:48,307 I received a check one day, 454 00:30:48,446 --> 00:30:50,914 and I noticed the return address was from Homestead. 455 00:30:51,049 --> 00:30:53,540 And Homestead is here in South Miami, 456 00:30:53,685 --> 00:30:55,778 and it was probably the most devastated area 457 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:57,717 from Hurricane Andrew. 458 00:30:57,856 --> 00:31:00,086 And I opened the letter, and there was a check there, 459 00:31:00,225 --> 00:31:02,785 and it said, "Please, please accept this donation 460 00:31:02,927 --> 00:31:04,792 in memory of our daughter, Naomi Browning 461 00:31:04,929 --> 00:31:07,090 who was killed in the storm." 462 00:31:10,935 --> 00:31:13,870 You feel almost guilty that something has not happened to you 463 00:31:14,005 --> 00:31:15,632 because there's tragedy's around you like this. 464 00:31:15,773 --> 00:31:17,764 And here you have a lady sending you a check 465 00:31:17,909 --> 00:31:19,843 in the memory of her 12-year-old daughter 466 00:31:19,978 --> 00:31:21,912 who happened to have been a volunteer here at the zoo, 467 00:31:22,046 --> 00:31:22,944 volunteered her time. 468 00:31:23,081 --> 00:31:26,244 And I said, "Ms. Browning, why?" 469 00:31:26,384 --> 00:31:27,282 And through her tears, 470 00:31:27,418 --> 00:31:28,942 and as she was crying on the phone and talking to me 471 00:31:29,087 --> 00:31:33,285 she said, "Ron, prior to this beam falling down and crushing her, 472 00:31:33,424 --> 00:31:36,154 the only thing she kept saying all night long was 473 00:31:36,294 --> 00:31:39,320 'Mom, I'm so worried about the animals at the zoo."' 474 00:31:47,205 --> 00:31:49,173 In the aftermath of a hurricane, 475 00:31:49,307 --> 00:31:53,243 the survivors must try to make the best of what remains. 476 00:31:53,378 --> 00:31:54,902 It's a long, slow process, 477 00:31:55,046 --> 00:31:59,881 restoring shattered lives and replacing broken dreams. 478 00:32:00,018 --> 00:32:02,816 But the residents of South Florida must also come to terms 479 00:32:02,954 --> 00:32:06,321 with the certainty that another big hurricane is on the way, 480 00:32:06,457 --> 00:32:10,223 perhaps next year, or the year after. 481 00:32:12,630 --> 00:32:14,427 The long-term problem is that 482 00:32:14,565 --> 00:32:19,628 people build their homes in areas most vulnerable to tropical storms. 483 00:32:19,771 --> 00:32:23,901 All across the globe, if coastal development continues unabated, 484 00:32:24,042 --> 00:32:26,237 more and more people will find themselves 485 00:32:26,377 --> 00:32:30,609 in the paths of major hurricanes and typhoons, 486 00:32:30,748 --> 00:32:33,046 and those storms could be more expensive 487 00:32:33,184 --> 00:32:36,278 and more deadly than ever. 488 00:32:46,764 --> 00:32:49,824 Most natural disasters are mercifully quick: 489 00:32:49,968 --> 00:32:52,698 Earthquakes last only seconds. 490 00:32:55,239 --> 00:32:59,005 Tornadoes rarely touch down for more than a few minutes. 491 00:33:01,346 --> 00:33:05,214 Even hurricanes come and go in a matter of hours. 492 00:33:06,317 --> 00:33:10,185 But a flood is a disaster in slow motion. 493 00:33:10,321 --> 00:33:13,620 It can last as long as the rain continues to fall, 494 00:33:13,758 --> 00:33:17,660 as long as the water continues to rise. 495 00:33:18,863 --> 00:33:21,491 Some floods are of biblical proportions, 496 00:33:21,632 --> 00:33:25,363 dragging on for weeks or even months. 497 00:33:29,707 --> 00:33:31,004 Such a flood was the one 498 00:33:31,142 --> 00:33:35,579 that struck the Mississippi Valley in 1993. 499 00:33:35,713 --> 00:33:36,771 The people who live here 500 00:33:36,914 --> 00:33:40,350 are accustomed to the river's perildic rise and fall, 501 00:33:40,485 --> 00:33:42,248 They've often joined battle with the elements 502 00:33:42,387 --> 00:33:43,979 to preserve their homes. 503 00:33:44,122 --> 00:33:48,525 They refuse to remain passive in the face of disaster. 504 00:33:48,659 --> 00:33:53,687 But 1993 brought the worst deluge in a century and a half. 505 00:33:53,831 --> 00:33:56,800 The Mississippi became a monstrous adversary, 506 00:33:56,934 --> 00:33:59,801 and the struggle would last for months. 507 00:34:16,487 --> 00:34:18,978 The waters from nearly one quarter of North America 508 00:34:19,123 --> 00:34:22,559 drain down the upper Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. 509 00:34:22,693 --> 00:34:24,092 In the spring of '93, 510 00:34:24,228 --> 00:34:27,527 their tributaries were overwhelmed by relentless rain, 511 00:34:27,665 --> 00:34:30,759 turning the land between the rivers into what some called 512 00:34:30,902 --> 00:34:32,767 a "sixth Great Lake." 513 00:34:32,904 --> 00:34:36,533 By mid-July, with record crests converging at St. Louis, 514 00:34:36,674 --> 00:34:41,134 dozens of town downriver faced the danger of being wiped off the map 515 00:34:41,279 --> 00:34:44,442 towns like Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. 516 00:34:47,518 --> 00:34:50,487 Founded by French settlers in the 1740s, 517 00:34:50,621 --> 00:34:53,351 Ste. Genevieve is the oldest European settlement 518 00:34:53,491 --> 00:34:55,857 on the western banks of the Mississippi. 519 00:34:55,993 --> 00:34:59,190 Some of its French colonial architecture exists now here else 520 00:34:59,330 --> 00:35:00,888 in the United States. 521 00:35:00,965 --> 00:35:02,432 And if the river had its way, 522 00:35:02,567 --> 00:35:05,934 that rich heritage would soon be gone. 523 00:35:07,638 --> 00:35:09,071 Where the waters were held at bay, 524 00:35:09,207 --> 00:35:12,904 the town owed its safety to a makeshift wall of sandbags 525 00:35:13,044 --> 00:35:16,411 and an extraordinary volunteer crusade. 526 00:35:16,547 --> 00:35:18,412 People from all walks of life 527 00:35:18,549 --> 00:35:20,483 from the locals to the National Guard 528 00:35:20,618 --> 00:35:25,317 joined hands to try to save what was left of Ste. Gen. 529 00:35:27,425 --> 00:35:31,361 The battle raged all summer long, as the river continued to rise. 530 00:35:31,496 --> 00:35:35,398 But in one way, the people of the Mississippi Valley were fortunate. 531 00:35:35,533 --> 00:35:37,433 As they waited for each new crest, 532 00:35:37,568 --> 00:35:40,731 they could prepare for the onslaught. 533 00:35:44,075 --> 00:35:48,341 But many floods happen fast, too fast for any response. 534 00:35:48,479 --> 00:35:50,879 In southern France in 1992, 535 00:35:51,015 --> 00:35:54,644 torrential rains raised river levels as much as 50 feet 536 00:35:54,785 --> 00:35:56,685 in just a few hours. 537 00:35:56,821 --> 00:36:00,188 The resulting flash floods overwhelmed defenseless towns, 538 00:36:00,324 --> 00:36:02,656 and dozens drowned. 539 00:36:09,467 --> 00:36:11,594 The people of Ste. Genevieve had time 540 00:36:11,736 --> 00:36:13,727 to meet the river's gradual advance, 541 00:36:13,871 --> 00:36:16,032 and they were ready for the worst. 542 00:36:16,174 --> 00:36:20,406 One of those leading the fight was Vern Bauman, a local contractor. 543 00:36:20,545 --> 00:36:23,378 Vern was president of the Downtown Levee District, 544 00:36:23,514 --> 00:36:26,176 the agency responsible for maintaining the dikes 545 00:36:26,317 --> 00:36:28,877 now swallowed by the river. 546 00:36:29,921 --> 00:36:34,324 He coordinated the efforts to save what was left of the town. 547 00:36:34,458 --> 00:36:36,517 Did you get any sleep tonight? 548 00:36:36,961 --> 00:36:39,429 Well, what 15 minutes or what? 549 00:36:39,730 --> 00:36:41,664 We got contractors. 550 00:36:41,799 --> 00:36:44,233 We got the National Guard in here, 551 00:36:44,368 --> 00:36:47,860 and a lot of civilian help and local people here. 552 00:36:48,005 --> 00:36:50,906 And we got we just start coordinating everything, 553 00:36:51,042 --> 00:36:53,374 trying to get the unions to work together. 554 00:36:53,511 --> 00:36:57,379 And it's just a minute... 555 00:36:57,515 --> 00:36:59,676 Sonny, we're gonna' need 556 00:36:59,817 --> 00:37:01,876 we're gonna' need... 557 00:37:03,187 --> 00:37:07,021 The rising tide had brought a flood of people to the town as well, 558 00:37:07,158 --> 00:37:11,424 nearly 10,000 from 34 different states. 559 00:37:15,499 --> 00:37:17,126 But in spite of all their efforts, 560 00:37:17,268 --> 00:37:19,361 after two and a half months of flooding, 561 00:37:19,503 --> 00:37:23,132 more than half of Ste. Genevieve lay underwater. 562 00:37:23,274 --> 00:37:28,041 Temporary levees wove through town creating an artificial waterfront. 563 00:37:28,179 --> 00:37:29,612 A man-made island rose 564 00:37:29,747 --> 00:37:32,682 where Wehner Street had once met North Main: 565 00:37:32,817 --> 00:37:35,411 The work of four families who banded together 566 00:37:35,553 --> 00:37:38,283 in a desperate battle to save their homes. 567 00:37:38,422 --> 00:37:41,448 And they seemed to be winning, at least for now. 568 00:37:41,592 --> 00:37:43,753 But in the struggle to hold back the river, 569 00:37:43,894 --> 00:37:47,125 the families had faced a heartbreaking decision: 570 00:37:47,265 --> 00:37:49,324 Only the homes of those who could stay 571 00:37:49,467 --> 00:37:51,901 and fight were protected by the dike. 572 00:37:52,036 --> 00:37:55,062 It was agreed all at one time that all five was gonna' be here. 573 00:37:55,206 --> 00:37:58,039 Then later one house was not included, 574 00:37:58,175 --> 00:38:01,076 and I really feel bad about this one. 575 00:38:01,445 --> 00:38:05,711 It belongs to Henry, Henry Stackle, and he's, he's in his 70s. 576 00:38:05,850 --> 00:38:10,287 And he was always one who always fought. 577 00:38:10,421 --> 00:38:13,322 A few years ago, he probably led the area up here. 578 00:38:13,457 --> 00:38:18,724 Now, he's the river just keeps coming back, 579 00:38:18,863 --> 00:38:21,491 and he's not as young as he used to be. 580 00:38:27,838 --> 00:38:30,739 He's a very hard fighter, 581 00:38:35,146 --> 00:38:39,242 and I guess this is the first one he ever lost. 582 00:38:51,495 --> 00:38:53,690 This skirmish had been hard-won, 583 00:38:53,831 --> 00:38:55,492 but the compound was, at best, 584 00:38:55,633 --> 00:38:59,194 only a makeshift substitute for the permanent levees, 585 00:38:59,337 --> 00:39:01,100 the ones that had failed. 586 00:39:01,238 --> 00:39:03,798 Those had been built by the Army Corps of Engineers, 587 00:39:03,941 --> 00:39:08,241 as part of a vast network designed to tame the Mississippi. 588 00:39:08,379 --> 00:39:10,244 Over the course of a half-century, 589 00:39:10,381 --> 00:39:11,405 the corps had constructed 590 00:39:11,549 --> 00:39:15,110 some 2,200 miles of concrete-retaining walls 591 00:39:15,252 --> 00:39:19,484 and earthen embankments, designed to defend towns and farms, 592 00:39:19,623 --> 00:39:22,649 and "correct" the river's natural course. 593 00:39:22,793 --> 00:39:26,354 The farmers themselves, together with state and local governments, 594 00:39:26,497 --> 00:39:29,227 had built thousands miles more. 595 00:39:29,367 --> 00:39:32,461 But the plan created new problems. 596 00:39:32,603 --> 00:39:34,093 For 10,000 years, 597 00:39:34,238 --> 00:39:36,706 the great floodplains of the American Midwest 598 00:39:36,841 --> 00:39:39,969 served as a natural spillway for their rivers. 599 00:39:40,111 --> 00:39:43,672 Only in the last few centuries has civilization encroached 600 00:39:43,814 --> 00:39:45,645 on the river's domain. 601 00:39:45,783 --> 00:39:48,274 As the river walls were extended and raised, 602 00:39:48,419 --> 00:39:51,047 they cinched the flow tighter and tighter, 603 00:39:51,188 --> 00:39:54,646 and the speed and pressure of the water built up behind them. 604 00:39:54,792 --> 00:39:56,987 When the river could no longer be held back, 605 00:39:57,128 --> 00:39:58,527 it would strike with a force 606 00:39:58,662 --> 00:40:02,758 and impact multiplied by the tremendous volume. 607 00:40:02,900 --> 00:40:04,868 That's what happened in the summer of '93 608 00:40:05,002 --> 00:40:09,268 at places like askaskia Island, nine miles south of Ste. Genevieve. 609 00:40:09,407 --> 00:40:11,841 There, no amount of effort could maintain the levees 610 00:40:11,976 --> 00:40:13,739 or save the town. 611 00:40:13,878 --> 00:40:14,936 It was an amazing sight. 612 00:40:15,079 --> 00:40:19,072 The Mississippi River flexing its seemingly unlimited muscle. 613 00:40:19,583 --> 00:40:21,278 Dozens of homes and other buildings 614 00:40:21,419 --> 00:40:25,515 including the town's church, all underwater. 615 00:40:25,823 --> 00:40:28,815 Some islanders believe the flood will be the death of a community 616 00:40:28,959 --> 00:40:32,156 whose history goes back nearly 200 years. 617 00:40:38,702 --> 00:40:41,136 Now all of askaskia's inhabitants, 618 00:40:41,272 --> 00:40:43,900 human and animal, were forced to take refuge 619 00:40:44,041 --> 00:40:46,441 on the only high ground available: 620 00:40:46,577 --> 00:40:49,375 The very levee that had failed them. 621 00:40:50,581 --> 00:40:54,540 Yeah, there's water on the whole island and all around the dike. 622 00:40:54,685 --> 00:40:57,882 Probably the only part right now that does not have water on it 623 00:40:58,022 --> 00:41:00,217 are the very high ridges out in the center, 624 00:41:00,357 --> 00:41:03,224 and the water's going to continue coming up. 625 00:41:03,761 --> 00:41:05,058 It's continual rain up north, 626 00:41:05,196 --> 00:41:09,292 and a lot of dikes are broken both north and south. 627 00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:15,363 So I'm sorry to tell you honey, but we lost everything, but us. 628 00:41:16,740 --> 00:41:17,672 I love you, sweetheart. 629 00:41:17,808 --> 00:41:21,744 We'll see ya' later, okay? All right. Bye-bye, hon. 630 00:41:22,813 --> 00:41:27,580 I just wanted to get off. I wanted my kids, my husband off. 631 00:41:28,652 --> 00:41:30,244 My furniture's all still there. 632 00:41:30,387 --> 00:41:36,189 Everything we worked for. Had dogs, cats, two cows. 633 00:41:39,497 --> 00:41:41,431 But I got my family. 634 00:41:49,974 --> 00:41:52,909 My husband was born and raised over here. 635 00:41:53,844 --> 00:41:59,805 I don't want to come back. I'm not gonna' lose it again. 636 00:42:07,424 --> 00:42:10,291 All over the mid-west levees have provided the fore sense 637 00:42:10,427 --> 00:42:14,625 security for the growing populations of the floodgate. 638 00:42:14,765 --> 00:42:16,892 By the end of the summer of 93' 639 00:42:17,034 --> 00:42:20,197 2/3 of all the levees have been bridged thoro-top. 640 00:42:20,337 --> 00:42:24,034 As the river continue disturbed your sort. 641 00:42:24,174 --> 00:42:26,267 Throughout the world, and throughout history, 642 00:42:26,410 --> 00:42:29,243 people have always settled on floodplains, 643 00:42:29,380 --> 00:42:31,473 taking advantage of their fertile soil, 644 00:42:31,615 --> 00:42:33,845 and the rivers' own resources. 645 00:42:33,984 --> 00:42:37,750 In many places they must be protected by artificial levees, 646 00:42:37,888 --> 00:42:40,152 and levees have a tendency to fail, 647 00:42:40,291 --> 00:42:43,556 sometimes with catastrophic results. 648 00:42:43,694 --> 00:42:45,719 In China, in the 1930s, 649 00:42:45,863 --> 00:42:49,629 floods breached the levees along the Yangtze and Huang Rivers. 650 00:42:49,767 --> 00:42:53,203 The Yangtze floods killed three and a half million people 651 00:42:53,337 --> 00:42:57,501 in one of the greatest natural disasters of this century. 652 00:43:02,646 --> 00:43:03,977 Around Ste. Genevieve, 653 00:43:04,114 --> 00:43:06,912 even where the levees were higher than the crest of the flood, 654 00:43:07,051 --> 00:43:10,452 the river could still find a way to penetrate them. 655 00:43:10,588 --> 00:43:12,488 After eight waterlogged weeks, 656 00:43:12,623 --> 00:43:16,491 trouble spots were cropping up on the earthen walls. 657 00:43:16,627 --> 00:43:19,118 Better get some bags here quick. 658 00:43:20,497 --> 00:43:24,729 Even a small seep of water could pose a grave threat. 659 00:43:26,537 --> 00:43:31,531 In just minutes, this situation went from threat to catastrophe. 660 00:43:31,675 --> 00:43:34,166 Unwilling to give in after fighting so long, 661 00:43:34,311 --> 00:43:39,214 Vern Bauman took one last gamble, and drove out to the break. 662 00:43:46,523 --> 00:43:48,855 With luck, Vern hoped to stem the tide 663 00:43:48,993 --> 00:43:50,961 and buy time for those families 664 00:43:51,095 --> 00:43:53,996 whose homes stood in the waters' way. 665 00:43:58,202 --> 00:43:59,999 He took earth from wherever he could, 666 00:44:00,137 --> 00:44:03,129 even the footings of the levee beneath him. 667 00:44:03,273 --> 00:44:07,175 As hard as he worked, he was no match for the river. 668 00:44:31,769 --> 00:44:33,634 Soon, the outcome was clear. 669 00:44:33,771 --> 00:44:36,331 All that remained was to pull men and machines off 670 00:44:36,473 --> 00:44:41,035 the crumbling embankment and evacuate the houses behind. 671 00:44:53,223 --> 00:44:56,954 There was two chances, slim and none, once that truck fell in. 672 00:45:00,030 --> 00:45:04,865 What amazed me about the whole thing was how quick it went. 673 00:45:33,397 --> 00:45:38,562 Throughout the Midwest, the floods of 1993 took a tremendous toll: 674 00:45:38,702 --> 00:45:41,262 $10.5 billion in damage, 675 00:45:41,405 --> 00:45:44,738 56,000 home flooded or destroyed. 676 00:45:44,875 --> 00:45:48,038 306,000 square miles underwater, 677 00:45:48,178 --> 00:45:51,841 and some 50 lives lost to the river. 678 00:45:53,584 --> 00:45:55,575 As for the town of Ste. Genevieve, 679 00:45:55,719 --> 00:45:58,711 it had been saved, at least most of it. 680 00:45:58,856 --> 00:46:02,383 But hundreds buildings were lost or damaged. 681 00:46:02,526 --> 00:46:07,054 Ste. Gen can't afford many more victories like this one. 682 00:46:10,601 --> 00:46:13,263 There were important lessons to be learned from these floods, 683 00:46:13,403 --> 00:46:15,462 and some people took them to heart. 684 00:46:15,606 --> 00:46:18,074 In the past, most flood victims had returned 685 00:46:18,208 --> 00:46:23,077 and rebuilt as a matter of course, but this time would be different. 686 00:46:25,482 --> 00:46:26,449 In some places, 687 00:46:26,583 --> 00:46:29,848 the river will be allowed to keep the land it reclaimed. 688 00:46:29,987 --> 00:46:33,252 Thousands of acres of low-lying farms will be left open 689 00:46:33,390 --> 00:46:35,517 for future flooding. 690 00:46:38,095 --> 00:46:40,529 Many families and even entire towns 691 00:46:40,664 --> 00:46:42,393 have decided to give up the struggle 692 00:46:42,533 --> 00:46:44,160 and move to higher ground 693 00:46:44,301 --> 00:46:48,101 where they'll be safe the next time the river floods. 694 00:46:50,507 --> 00:46:54,409 These changes in practice and policy amount to an admission 695 00:46:54,545 --> 00:46:57,343 that we can't fight nature and win. 696 00:46:57,481 --> 00:47:02,180 It's finally becoming clear that we can't prevent natural disasters, 697 00:47:02,319 --> 00:47:06,847 but perhaps we can learn how to predict them... 698 00:47:17,868 --> 00:47:22,328 In California, scientists are trying to predict earthquakes. 699 00:47:22,472 --> 00:47:26,067 The site is the sleepy little town of Parkfield. 700 00:47:26,210 --> 00:47:28,269 Just about every 22 years, 701 00:47:28,412 --> 00:47:31,404 a powerful earthquake rumbles through here. 702 00:47:31,548 --> 00:47:32,879 And when the next on hits, 703 00:47:33,016 --> 00:47:36,508 seismologist Allan Lindh hopes to be ready for it. 704 00:47:36,653 --> 00:47:39,486 Parkfield will really be our first opportunity anywhere on earth 705 00:47:39,623 --> 00:47:42,820 to really capture an earthquake in all its glory, 706 00:47:42,960 --> 00:47:45,690 to really be sitting there waiting with all our tools out 707 00:47:45,829 --> 00:47:48,764 and sharpened and waiting to go. 708 00:47:49,099 --> 00:47:51,033 The U.S. Geological Survey 709 00:47:51,168 --> 00:47:54,604 has spent millions of dollars wiring parkfield. 710 00:47:54,738 --> 00:47:57,730 All over the valley, highly sophisticated instruments, 711 00:47:57,875 --> 00:48:01,834 like this laser, are poised to detect the tiniest movement 712 00:48:01,979 --> 00:48:04,470 along the San Andreas Fault. 713 00:48:08,952 --> 00:48:13,048 If the earth shifts even a few millimeters before a quake strikes, 714 00:48:13,190 --> 00:48:16,717 seismologists may be able to issue a warning. 715 00:48:16,860 --> 00:48:19,988 The parkfield experiment is not just designed to predict 716 00:48:20,130 --> 00:48:21,757 when an earthquake will happen, 717 00:48:21,899 --> 00:48:25,130 but also exactly where it will strike. 718 00:48:25,269 --> 00:48:29,763 It's based on an idea called the "seismic gap theory." 719 00:48:30,707 --> 00:48:34,973 Seismic gap theory is really just a very simple notion. 720 00:48:35,112 --> 00:48:36,010 And all it says is 721 00:48:36,146 --> 00:48:39,309 since motin is occurring all along a plate boundary, 722 00:48:39,449 --> 00:48:41,644 there are gonna' be earthquakes everywhere along it. 723 00:48:41,785 --> 00:48:45,118 And the places that haven't and 'em lastest are going to be the places 724 00:48:45,255 --> 00:48:47,086 to have them "next-est." 725 00:48:48,025 --> 00:48:51,290 By pinpointing places with the greatest likelihood for a quake, 726 00:48:51,428 --> 00:48:55,296 scientists and urban planners can focus on protecting buildings, 727 00:48:55,432 --> 00:48:56,729 and people. 728 00:48:56,867 --> 00:48:59,927 But geologists can't create an earthquake in the lab. 729 00:49:00,070 --> 00:49:02,300 The only way for them to test their theories 730 00:49:02,439 --> 00:49:04,134 is to wait for one to happen, 731 00:49:04,274 --> 00:49:08,734 and hope they're still around afterwards to analyze the data. 732 00:49:08,879 --> 00:49:13,578 Panning back. I've got to get this updraft just once in my life. 733 00:49:13,717 --> 00:49:17,209 Observing tornadoes presents its own challenges, and thrills. 734 00:49:17,354 --> 00:49:20,380 Every spring and summer, tornado season in the Midwest, 735 00:49:20,524 --> 00:49:23,618 an army of amateur storm chasers is out in the field. 736 00:49:23,760 --> 00:49:26,388 And video cameras are now standard equipment. 737 00:49:26,530 --> 00:49:29,055 That has got to be a violent tornado. 738 00:49:29,199 --> 00:49:31,759 Going head-to-head with a twister is an obsession 739 00:49:31,902 --> 00:49:35,702 for both amateur storm chasers and professional scientists. 740 00:49:35,839 --> 00:49:39,502 It may look like fun, but it pays off with valuable information 741 00:49:39,643 --> 00:49:44,137 about the birth and behavior of these killer storms. 742 00:49:45,315 --> 00:49:47,146 There goes the windshield. 743 00:49:52,622 --> 00:49:55,022 Just as important as direct observation 744 00:49:55,158 --> 00:49:58,389 are remote sensing techniques like Doppler radar. 745 00:49:58,528 --> 00:50:00,052 Over the past two decades, 746 00:50:00,197 --> 00:50:04,099 Doppler radar has revolutionized the study of tornadoes. 747 00:50:04,234 --> 00:50:07,431 First used by the military to detect unfriendly missiles, 748 00:50:07,571 --> 00:50:09,334 Doppler is so sensitive 749 00:50:09,473 --> 00:50:13,375 it can track the movement of insects 40 miles away. 750 00:50:13,510 --> 00:50:16,536 In the field, portable Doppler radar units can be used 751 00:50:16,680 --> 00:50:20,639 to record data at dangerously close range. 752 00:50:22,619 --> 00:50:28,854 I'm on the left side of that tight circulation and I'm gonna' go over. 753 00:50:30,227 --> 00:50:32,092 With the information they've compiled, 754 00:50:32,229 --> 00:50:35,892 scientists are creating computer models of severe storms 755 00:50:36,033 --> 00:50:39,935 to learn even more about their structure and behavior. 756 00:50:43,173 --> 00:50:44,367 As with earthquakes, 757 00:50:44,508 --> 00:50:48,103 the key to avoiding catastrophe is alerting the public. 758 00:50:48,245 --> 00:50:52,409 At the National Weather Service, scientists have introduced NEXRAD, 759 00:50:52,549 --> 00:50:55,780 the "next generation" of advanced Doppler radar. 760 00:50:55,919 --> 00:50:58,615 NEXRAD's enhanced imagery makes it easier 761 00:50:58,755 --> 00:51:02,816 to spot tornadoes as they form, and that can save critical miuntes 762 00:51:02,959 --> 00:51:06,395 in alerting those in the twister's path. 763 00:51:11,802 --> 00:51:14,771 Hurricane prediction is also becoming more precise, 764 00:51:14,905 --> 00:51:18,739 as scientists gain a new perspective on these giant storms, 765 00:51:18,875 --> 00:51:20,968 with the help of powerful new tools 766 00:51:21,111 --> 00:51:23,636 like the space shuttle and weather satellites. 767 00:51:23,780 --> 00:51:26,305 And as the accuracy of forecasts improves, 768 00:51:26,450 --> 00:51:29,908 hurricane fatalities are declining. 769 00:51:30,053 --> 00:51:33,716 The beginning of the hurricane conditions will start there 770 00:51:33,857 --> 00:51:37,623 anytime after dark this evening. 771 00:51:38,028 --> 00:51:40,792 Today when hurricanes form over the Atlantic, 772 00:51:40,931 --> 00:51:43,729 the National Hurricane Center in Miami serves 773 00:51:43,867 --> 00:51:45,596 as a central clearinghouse 774 00:51:45,735 --> 00:51:48,397 analyzing data, issuing forecasts, 775 00:51:48,538 --> 00:51:49,937 and, most important, 776 00:51:50,073 --> 00:51:53,042 broadcasting warnings, to the public. 777 00:51:53,610 --> 00:51:54,702 There's a fine line 778 00:51:54,845 --> 00:51:58,406 between alerting the community and creating panic. 779 00:51:58,548 --> 00:52:00,379 Evacuations are expensive, 780 00:52:00,517 --> 00:52:03,975 and false alarms can damage public confidence. 781 00:52:04,121 --> 00:52:06,419 But in the face of an approaching hurricane, 782 00:52:06,556 --> 00:52:10,458 it's a good idea just to get out of the way. 783 00:52:13,563 --> 00:52:16,623 Like floods, earthquakes, and tornadoes, 784 00:52:16,766 --> 00:52:23,001 hurricanes remind us that there are powerful forces beyond our control. 785 00:52:24,207 --> 00:52:28,268 We have not conquered nature and we never will. 786 00:52:30,080 --> 00:52:35,746 But perhaps we can learn to survive nature's fury.