Mega Disasters

What would happen if a massive earthquake and tsunami were to strike the West Coast of the United States? Experts say it could easily match the catastrophic 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in scale and might. A 700-mile stretch of coast, from northern California to southern British Columbia lies just off the extremely volatile Cascadia Subduction Zone.

What happens when the most intense tornado ever measured strikes Dallas, Texas? With winds clocked at 318 miles per hour, the monster twister carves a path through the city up to a mile wide. It happened once before, just two hundred miles to the north in Oklahoma City. There in May 1999 a "Megatornado" scoured the earth for 85 minutes along a 38-mile path.

What would happen if a category 3 hurricane were to hit New York City? With an awesomely high storm surge and intense winds attacking one of the most heavily populated and economically vital locations in the world, the potential for massive destruction is almost unprecedented.

The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens alerted scientists and the world to the dangers of an explosive volcano in the Cascade Range. St. Helens erupted in a fiery blast that killed every living thing within a 25-mile radius and unleashed the biggest landslide in recorded history.

Many scientists now believe that a "killer asteroid" wiped out the dinosaurs and 70% of all living things 160-million years ago. How likely is it that a similar event can occur again? In this episode, we explore the catastrophic effects of a 2-kilometer-long asteroid hitting just off the coast of Los Angeles.

Could a killer earthquake strike America's heartland? If history proves true, the answer is yes. The 1811-1812 New Madrid Earthquakes (centered in southeast Missouri) rank as some of North America's most catastrophic natural disasters. Stretching more than 160 miles, a system of earthquake faults lurks beneath the Mississippi River basin, loaded and ready to erupt.

The largest and most active volcano system in the world is right here in the western United States. Six hundred thousand years ago, the Yellowstone volcano erupted. Lava and pyroclastic flows covered 3,000 square miles and ash covered half the United States, three feet thick. Fossils found as far away as Nebraska were found to have died from inhaling the Yellowstone debris.

Chicago is known as the "Windy City," but many believe a tornado can't strike a downtown filled with massive high-rise skyscrapers. It is a dangerous misconception. In 1967, a destructive high-speed tornado screamed along a 16-mile path through the south Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn and all the way to Lake Michigan.

Hurricanes. Earthquakes. Floods. Blizzards. Frightening but all too familiar natural disasters. But what about a tsunami wave hitting the east coast of the United States? In this hour, we look at such an event that could be caused by a massive island landslide triggered by a volcano off the coast of Africa.

On the morning of December 6, 1917, the French steamer Mont Blanc, loaded with 2,300 tons of picric acid and 200 tons of TNT, was making its way through the narrows of the harbor of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Suddenly, it collided with the Norwegian ship Imo.

Could North America and parts of Europe be headed for a "big chill?" Many experts fear that an abrupt climate change could have catastrophic effects across the planet, including devastating winters in some northern regions. New research has indicated to scientists that the climate is changing rapidly and unpredictably.

The floods that destroyed so much of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina showed how fragile levee systems can be. Now, experts believe a devastating flood could also strike Sacramento. The levees that are supposed to protect the area from two rivers could fail and a 250-mile area could become an inland sea. By revisiting the Katrina disaster, we witness what happens when a city floods.