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*
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00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:05,920
NARRATOR: Flash floods strike
and take their victims...
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00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:09,320
...by complete surprise.
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00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:18,160
Powerful walls of water
destroy everything in their path.
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00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:25,320
Of all extreme weather conditions,
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00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:29,440
floods cause
the greatest number of deaths.
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(Cries out)
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00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:57,640
At any one moment,
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12,000 billion tonnes of water
are suspended in the atmosphere,
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00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:05,200
waiting to fall as rain.
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00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:16,000
Below, more than
37 million billion cubic metres
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00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:17,600
make their way across the planet,
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00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,240
relentlessly flowing downwards.
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00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:29,840
Most of the time, we can harness
and manage its power.
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00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:53,720
But when the world's water
runs out of control,
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00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:56,240
it becomes a flood.
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00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:07,120
And nothing can stop it.
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00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:25,120
The most dangerous floods
are unexpected flash floods.
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00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:29,480
They often happen
in the world's driest places.
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00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:38,520
When thunderstorms hit the deserts
of the south-western United States,
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00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:41,920
the rainwater they bring
can kill without warning.
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00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:54,120
Las Vegas is
the second-driest city in America.
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It's surrounded by desert.
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00:02:58,920 --> 00:03:04,240
Sherry Swensk has been a weather
forecaster here for 15 years.
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00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:09,160
Our climate is known for just being
hot and dry and unforgiving.
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00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:11,720
Overwhelmed by floods?
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That's nuts!
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00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:19,360
But on 9th August 2003,
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00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:22,560
huge thunder clouds
gathered over Vegas
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00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:26,240
and unleashed a year's worth of rain
in less than an hour.
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That day, that much rain
on our hard desert dirt,
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00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:34,520
it hit and it ran.
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Flood-control basins designed to
protect the city were overwhelmed.
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00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:48,120
The detention basins
were doing their job.
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00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:50,520
They were keeping up
as fast as they could.
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00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:52,840
Unfortunately,
it wasn't fast enough.
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00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:01,920
That day, Angela Stitcher set off
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to pick up her two young children
from nursery school.
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00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:08,760
As she drove under a highway bridge,
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00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:13,520
she had no idea the flood
was heading straight towards her.
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00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:16,720
There wasn't really any standing
water when I got there,
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00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:18,520
nothing to cause any concern.
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00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:21,480
But the water just came out of
nowhere. It was like a tidal wave.
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00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:27,880
I was just a sitting duck.
There was nowhere I could go.
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The water was more than a metre deep
and moving at 40km/h.
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00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:40,360
The water was actually coming up
to my window.
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00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:43,720
There was a man standing on top
of a U-Haul truck,
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yelling at me to get out of my car.
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00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:47,440
MAN: Get out of the car now!
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00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:52,200
The sheer force of the flood
starting moving her car.
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00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,640
So I climbed up on top of my car.
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00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:09,560
I think, at this point,
fear really started to set in.
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00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:17,520
And then, as I lay there, I just
realised, 'OK, this is it.
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00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:19,040
This is my time.'
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00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:32,520
I've accepted it.
I've said my goodbyes.
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00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:35,800
I pictured the faces of my kids
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00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:38,360
and I just laid there
and I closed my eyes, thinking,
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00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:40,240
'OK, I'm ready to go.'
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00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:43,880
The next thing I know,
there was a guy shaking me.
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00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:46,960
And I was like,
'Wow! Where did he come from?!'
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00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:55,040
A police rescue helicopter braved
the nearby powerlines to rescue her.
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00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:05,480
It was like,
'Oh, hi. I'm glad you're here.'
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00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:23,360
They reached Angela just in time.
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00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:25,920
Before they even got me
up in the helicopter,
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00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:27,440
my car washed away.
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00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:32,360
So they made it
not a moment too soon.
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00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:38,120
The man on the truck decided
his only option was to jump.
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00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:44,640
Luckily, he wasn't hurt.
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00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:47,160
He also escaped the flood.
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00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:55,120
More than 60 people had to be rescued
from the water that day.
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00:06:55,120 --> 00:07:00,000
Even the fire department had to be
airlifted to safety.
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00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:09,120
The power of moving water
is tremendous,
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00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:13,320
because it moves quickly
and it gathers speed.
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00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:17,360
That six inches of water that's
moving down a road or a street
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00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:20,320
can gain 30 miles an hour in speed.
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00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:24,200
It's very powerful,
and can become really dangerous.
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00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:39,240
Just 15cm of water is enough
to sweep you off your feet.
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That depth can exert
a third of a tonne of pressure.
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That's enough to push a car around.
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00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:59,600
A flow of about half a metre
can move heavy vehicles,
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00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:02,840
like this fully loaded cement mixer.
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00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:11,600
And the steeper the slope,
the more powerful the flow.
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00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:23,000
*
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00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:35,280
Northern California has one of the
highest rainfall totals in the US.
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00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:50,920
An extensive system
of dams and levees
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channels snowmelt and rainwater
down from the Sierra Nevada mountains
87
00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:59,960
to the orchards and vineyards
of the Sacramento Valley.
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00:09:07,680 --> 00:09:11,960
These giant levees were built
in the early 1900s
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00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:15,600
to protect this valuable land
and the people who live here.
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00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:24,440
Almost a hundred years later,
during the winter of 1996,
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00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:26,480
they were tested to the limit.
92
00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:35,560
Unusually warm weather
was melting snow in the mountains.
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00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:39,880
Heavy storms
dropped over a metre of rain.
94
00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:47,040
As the reservoirs reached capacity,
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00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:50,480
water manager Steve Onken
started to worry.
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00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:57,040
By December 30th, most of the
reservoirs in Northern California
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00:09:57,040 --> 00:09:59,120
were full,
98
00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:01,520
and we were releasing
or spilling water
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00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:04,800
because the inflow
was greater than we could store.
100
00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:10,640
There was just too much rain,
too much run-off,
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00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:14,520
and we were headed
for a flood-type situation.
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00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:21,400
As the pressure built up
behind the dams,
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00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:25,000
the hydro-engineers released
more and more water.
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00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:30,560
They assumed the levees downstream
would keep it contained.
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00:10:30,560 --> 00:10:32,760
But they were wrong.
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00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:38,600
It was New Year's Eve
in Marysville, California,
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00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:42,320
and Mike and Mary-Anna Otorino
were on holiday
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00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:44,960
during one of the wettest winters
on record.
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00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:49,920
Water managers were trying to keep
the nearby dam from overflowing.
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00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:54,800
As the river level rose,
the Otorinos were unconcerned.
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00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:58,360
We honestly didn't think there was
gonna be a problem for us, no,
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00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:01,520
because we just felt the levee
is going to hold
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00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:03,840
and it's doing what it's designed
to do.
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00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:05,640
We could count on the levee.
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00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:11,040
But when rising levels
put too much pressure on the levees,
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00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:12,640
one of them collapsed.
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00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:17,480
As the water swept out across
the California flood plain,
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00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:20,320
the authorities were powerless
to stop it.
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00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:29,240
The water spreads out very quickly.
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00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:32,600
If you're in the path of the water,
you're in trouble.
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00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:38,400
The Otorinos were staying
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00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:41,080
at a friend's house
close to the levee break.
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00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:45,720
Police warned them
they had 15 minutes to get out.
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00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:51,120
They left just before dark.
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00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:58,080
So we started down the road
and the road looked fine
126
00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:00,080
until we got to the corner.
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00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:03,440
As soon as we made the turn,
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00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:06,800
the headlights from the car
shone upon the water
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00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:09,960
and there was literally
a river of water
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00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:11,640
going across the roadway.
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00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:16,680
The Otorinos decided
they could cross safely.
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00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:20,360
That was a big mistake.
133
00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:25,160
It just got higher and higher
and higher,
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00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:27,640
and at that point,
the car stalled.
135
00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:33,200
As the water kept going up and up,
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00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:37,040
we realised, 'This is definitely
serious. This is not good.'
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00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:39,440
(ENGINE STALLS)
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00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:42,400
We then had to evacuate
and get on the roof of the car.
139
00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:48,360
And then it started to lap
at our feet on the roof.
140
00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:52,360
And this all happened within
20 minutes, so it rose very rapidly.
141
00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:01,800
Because of the force of the water,
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00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:04,120
we were now holding on
to each other.
143
00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:07,120
They hung on till daybreak,
144
00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:10,080
when a rescue helicopter spotted them
145
00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:13,120
standing on top
of their submerged car.
146
00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:21,520
After spending nearly 13 hours
in the water,
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00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:25,000
seeing that helicopter come back
and stop over us,
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00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:27,720
you couldn't believe
the feeling that we felt.
149
00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:31,560
The downdraft
from the helicopter blades
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00:13:31,560 --> 00:13:33,680
pushed them into the flood water.
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00:13:33,680 --> 00:13:36,200
I started sinking and sinking,
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00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:39,480
and all of a sudden,
I felt an arm grabbing my arm,
153
00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:43,920
and turned me around, and all of a
sudden there was a halter around me.
154
00:13:48,680 --> 00:13:51,640
It was the fastest ride
I have ever been,
155
00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:55,360
I was just so excited and delighted,
it was amazing.
156
00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,280
The Otorinos were lucky
to survive their ordeal.
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00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:09,800
In the US, 60% of all flood
fatalities die in their cars.
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00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:15,440
Weather and storms and water,
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00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:18,080
these are things
that have an impact on people
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00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:20,800
and can take away things
in a matter of seconds.
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00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:27,040
The faster water flows,
the more dangerous it becomes.
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00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:32,840
Even the slightest increase in speed
can turn a creek into a deathtrap.
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00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:36,680
(SCREAMS)
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00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:42,040
This woman in Turkey became trapped
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00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:44,840
when she tried to drive
across a flooded river.
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00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:53,640
(PEOPLE TALK ALL AT ONCE)
(WOMAN SCREAMS)
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00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:58,440
(PEOPLE SCREAM)
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00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:06,800
Somehow, the driver escaped
with her life.
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00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:17,560
Floods can be incredibly destructive.
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00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:22,880
When flood waters
swept right through the middle
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00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:24,800
of a small English village,
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00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:26,960
the devastation was terrible.
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00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:40,360
The coast of Cornwall ranks among
the most beautiful in the world.
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00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:45,680
Here, rugged cliffs meet the waters
of the Atlantic,
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00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:50,280
and give century-old villages shelter
from ocean storms.
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00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:57,600
One is the village of Boscastle,
home to just 800 people.
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00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:00,680
Every summer,
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00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:04,040
holiday-makers are drawn
to Boscastle's medieval harbour,
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00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:07,720
which sits at the bottom
of a huge natural funnel.
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00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:18,480
Trixie Webster serves the tourists
at the Harbour Light's teashop.
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00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:23,680
The building had been in my family
for 50 years.
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00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:25,640
It was a 14th-century building
183
00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:28,400
which was one of the most
photographed buildings
184
00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:29,920
in the whole of Cornwall.
185
00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:36,760
Graham King is curator of the Museum
of Witchcraft in Boscastle.
186
00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:38,800
It's totally magical.
187
00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:42,080
It's something about the wildness
of the sea,
188
00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:44,160
the very steep valley,
189
00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:48,640
it's a combination of all these
things somehow blend together.
190
00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:55,560
Part of Boscastle's picturesque charm
191
00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:58,600
comes from its gently
meandering rivers.
192
00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:05,720
But this also means
that any rain which falls here
193
00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:08,560
is channelled straight
through the village.
194
00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:19,840
In August 2004, these gentle streams
became torrents.
195
00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:28,000
*
196
00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:38,560
August 2004 - the height of the
holiday season in Boscastle, England.
197
00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:43,920
Trixie Webster was serving tea
to a full house.
198
00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:46,160
Down to this level.
199
00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:49,800
It was just at midday,
200
00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:52,760
this big black cloud came over.
201
00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:02,040
There was now an 11km-wide storm
at the top of the valley
202
00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:03,920
above the village.
203
00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:17,280
The river started rising
at quite a horrendous rate,
204
00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:20,200
and it went right up to the top
of the riverbanks,
205
00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:22,280
which is very unusual.
206
00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:30,480
The waters started flowing down
the main street.
207
00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:34,120
Boscastle was now at the mercy
of a flood.
208
00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:38,160
It just changed into something
that's terrifying.
209
00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:42,600
You can't imagine that's the same
river and the same place,
210
00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:44,520
but of course it is.
211
00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:46,600
MAN: It's gonna break the bridge.
212
00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:52,160
People struggled
to get through the water,
213
00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:55,520
even though it was just
a few centimetres deep.
214
00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:07,120
Then, things went from bad to worse.
215
00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:12,480
From a car park
at the top of the village,
216
00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:15,240
some of the cars began
to drift downhill.
217
00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:26,440
When the first car came down,
218
00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:29,280
we didn't even know if there was
someone in it or not,
219
00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:31,440
and we couldn't do anything
about it.
220
00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:33,600
It was a horrible, horrible feeling.
221
00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:46,000
If anybody had fallen in
at that point,
222
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:48,840
there would have been no coming back
223
00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:51,680
because to wash cars away
as it did,
224
00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:55,000
cars and vans just bobbing along
like dinky toys,
225
00:19:56,880 --> 00:19:59,440
that's quite powerful.
226
00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:05,120
The flood literally threw the cars
at the buildings.
227
00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:11,400
Trixie Webster's 600-year-old
teashop began to crumble.
228
00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,880
Water just burst through the door
229
00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:21,120
and burst through the windows
at the back.
230
00:20:21,120 --> 00:20:23,560
Every car that came down hit it.
231
00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:30,160
And it just disappeared.
232
00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:32,880
It was there one minute
and it was gone the next.
233
00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:38,040
The building didn't stand a chance.
It just disintegrated.
234
00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:50,520
Over 1.5 billion litres of rainwater
flowed through Boscastle that day.
235
00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:54,080
With almost a thousand lives
at stake,
236
00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:57,960
rescuers launched the biggest airlift
since World War II.
237
00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:16,840
After two hours,
the flood began to subside,
238
00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:19,880
exposing the devastation
it had left behind.
239
00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:29,440
Just the destruction, the mess,
it was quite amazing.
240
00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:34,880
It's quite incredible how much
the river had changed the landscape.
241
00:21:38,360 --> 00:21:40,760
It was like a bombsite.
Everything was...
242
00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:45,320
It was terrible - cars piled
one on top of the other,
243
00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:49,160
the building across from me
had trees in every window.
244
00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,560
It was very difficult
to take on board, really.
245
00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:01,000
With 84 vehicles lying wrecked
at the harbour entrance,
246
00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:03,800
the search for victims got underway.
247
00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:24,680
Dozens of cars had been swept
through the village.
248
00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:34,480
Rushing water can even be powerful
enough to move ten-tonne boulders.
249
00:22:38,120 --> 00:22:42,120
But incredibly, the flood
hadn't claimed a single life.
250
00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:51,200
The Caribbean coast of Venezuela.
251
00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:55,960
When the Spanish conquistadors
arrived here in the early 1500s,
252
00:22:55,960 --> 00:23:00,320
they dared to build towns
where the local Indians did not -
253
00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:05,320
crammed onto a tiny flood plain
between steep mountains and the sea.
254
00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:11,680
Professor of engineering
Carlos Anatias
255
00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:14,800
now understands the risk
his ancestors took.
256
00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:21,040
Not knowing this menace, we decided
to build in the middle of the way
257
00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:24,080
that the water normally takes
to come down to the sea.
258
00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:25,600
And every once in a while,
259
00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,960
the water comes
and produces a lot of disasters.
260
00:23:31,360 --> 00:23:34,240
When extreme rain fell in 1999,
261
00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:37,680
30,000 people paid with their lives.
262
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:51,520
(DISTANT HUBBUB)
263
00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:57,000
The coastal resort of Los Corales
in Venezuela
264
00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,840
was home to Justino Bravo.
265
00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:02,840
(MAN SPEAKS SPANISH)
266
00:24:12,360 --> 00:24:17,680
In December 1999, an unusually
fierce storm hit the coast.
267
00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:22,240
As it approached the city,
Justino began filming.
268
00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:27,480
(JUSTINO SPEAKS SPANISH)
269
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,000
At the nearby airport,
270
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:44,200
Mandy Donahue arrived
for a holiday with some friends.
271
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:50,960
The rain was really coming down.
272
00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:54,000
I, not having travelled,
just sort of thought,
273
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:57,320
'This is what it's supposed
to look like. It rains here.'
274
00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:06,160
But this wasn't normal.
275
00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:10,480
Over the next few days,
there was two years' worth of rain.
276
00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:17,720
The steady sort of drumbeat
of the rain was like...
277
00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:21,080
It just droned on and on.
You just sort of stop hearing it
278
00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:22,920
because it's so constant.
279
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:32,720
In all, there was a metre of rain.
280
00:25:34,120 --> 00:25:37,280
It ran down from the mountains
behind the town,
281
00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:39,760
gathering volume and power
all the way.
282
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,320
The water coursed
through the streets,
283
00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:47,320
surrounding Justino Bravo's
apartment building.
284
00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:49,680
(JUSTINO SPEAKS SPANISH)
285
00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:11,680
The flood water was demolishing
286
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:14,880
everything that stood
between it and the sea.
287
00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:18,600
But water wasn't the only problem.
288
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:22,760
On the slopes above Los Corales,
289
00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:25,880
the rainwater has dislodged soil
and rocks.
290
00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:31,400
Now, the floods were thundering down
at up to 96km/h,
291
00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:35,360
carrying uprooted trees,
huge chunks of debris
292
00:26:35,360 --> 00:26:38,040
and boulders the size
of school buses.
293
00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:42,600
They smashed their way
through buildings.
294
00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:08,840
(JUSTINO SPEAKS SPANISH)
295
00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:28,080
Justino Bravo's apartment
was also in the line of fire.
296
00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:33,520
(JUSTINO SPEAKS SPANISH)
297
00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:45,480
Mandy Donahue could only watch as
the flood waters reached her hotel.
298
00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:49,440
The hotel was right on the beach,
299
00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:53,720
and so everything in the city
was sort of flowing towards us.
300
00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:00,240
The water began
to have a disastrous effect
301
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:04,640
on poorly built shantytowns
clinging to the mountain slopes.
302
00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:18,320
We would hear
these sloughing sounds.
303
00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:21,960
We realised that
what we must have been hearing
304
00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:26,520
was the sound of these communities
built up the hill
305
00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:29,560
that were now in rubble
at the bottom of the hill.
306
00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:34,280
This swooshing sound was the sound
of these neighbourhoods
307
00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:36,280
being wiped away.
308
00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:46,080
When the flood waters
finally subsided,
309
00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:50,080
Los Corales was buried under tonnes
of gigantic boulders.
310
00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:03,800
Along 50km of coastline,
311
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:08,600
the water and debris had smashed
thousands of buildings into the sea.
312
00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:15,080
30,000 people were killed.
313
00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:19,040
But only a thousand bodies
were ever found.
314
00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:23,800
The rest just disappeared
into the water.
315
00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:30,480
150,000 people lost their homes.
316
00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:34,160
Los Corales was literally
washed away.
317
00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:42,600
Professor Carlos Anatias has studied
how something as simple as rain
318
00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:45,320
can cause such devastation.
319
00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:51,200
At the beginning, you have small
sediments, small particles,
320
00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:53,640
but as it continues to rain heavily,
321
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:57,440
you have larger pieces of soil
that come down with the water.
322
00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:00,840
And then, this kind of thick mixture
of solid and liquid
323
00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:03,680
could move anything
that it could find on the way.
324
00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:06,640
Especially, it could transport
rocks, heavy rocks.
325
00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:09,520
Because it is so dense,
it could lift them easily.
326
00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:18,600
The geography of Venezuela's
northern coast changed overnight.
327
00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:24,040
The hillsides are scarred
where the soil was washed away.
328
00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:30,000
An incredible 1.4 million
cubic metres of debris
329
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:32,520
was swept to the bottom
of the slopes,
330
00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:35,520
in places up to ten metres deep.
331
00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:48,640
Flash floods like this might strike
only twice in a century,
332
00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:52,280
but in some parts of the world,
333
00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:55,720
slow-rising floods
can be just as scary.
334
00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:58,040
And they happen every year.
335
00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:05,280
Slow-rising floods
can take days to develop,
336
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:08,200
and are much more predictable
than flash floods.
337
00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:14,560
But there's no way to stop them
once they start.
338
00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:20,160
Every spring, the water level
in the Mississippi
339
00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:24,240
gradually rises until the riverbanks
can no longer contain it.
340
00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:31,760
Satellite images reveal
the huge scale of the floods
341
00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:34,600
that sweep over the Midwest
every year.
342
00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:45,960
In 2008, heavy spring rains
caused the levels to rise
343
00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:48,760
more than four metres above normal.
344
00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:53,640
The Mississippi and its tributaries
overflowed their banks
345
00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:56,040
and spread out over the flood plain.
346
00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:00,480
Most people got out of the way,
347
00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:06,280
but the damage to property, crops
and livestock came to $2.5 billion.
348
00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:16,080
As the water fanned out
across eastern Iowa,
349
00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:20,920
it could have filled 1.5 Olympic-size
swimming pools every second.
350
00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:31,160
When it reached Cedar Rapids,
351
00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:34,720
it inundated 23km sq of the city.
352
00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:41,520
The flood took resident Lindsay
Janacek completely by surprise.
353
00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:46,280
I've lived in Cedar Rapids
all my life around the Cedar River
354
00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:48,200
and when I thought about a flood,
355
00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:50,720
I was prepared for maybe
inches of water.
356
00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:56,160
Instead, there was three metres
of water.
357
00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:01,960
As it flowed
into downtown Cedar Rapids,
358
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:05,160
it surrounded 1,300 city blocks.
359
00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:12,960
It demolished highways
and railway bridges,
360
00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:17,240
and wrecked more than 5,000 homes.
361
00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:25,720
Lindsay's house was one of them.
362
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:29,520
Oh, my God!
363
00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:31,520
I knew it was going to be bad,
364
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:35,080
but when I walked in, I didn't
realise it would be that bad.
365
00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:38,360
Oh, God! It's full of water.
366
00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:40,160
And shoes.
367
00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:46,040
I never would have imagined
walking into my home
368
00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:50,600
and seeing the ceiling torn down
and the walls black with mud.
369
00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:56,240
This is the stove.
It turned it over completely.
370
00:33:57,240 --> 00:34:00,280
It took appliances
and turned them completely over,
371
00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:03,080
and moved the dressers
across the room and...
372
00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:06,880
I'm at a loss for words,
to be honest.
373
00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:10,520
It's been my home,
it's part of who I am.
374
00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:18,800
The Mississippi is the largest river
in the US.
375
00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:28,320
At the mouth
of its 3,700km-long course,
376
00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:31,560
the Mississippi fans out
into a delta.
377
00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:36,200
And right in the middle
is the city of New Orleans.
378
00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:55,600
In 1927, the river burst its banks
in a catastrophic flood.
379
00:34:55,600 --> 00:35:00,240
It killed 500 people
and inundated nearly a million homes.
380
00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:06,320
Many were in the poorest Ninth Ward
381
00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:09,000
where authorities dynamited
the old levees
382
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:11,640
to prevent flooding
elsewhere in the city.
383
00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:22,760
After that flood,
the army corps of engineers
384
00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:25,480
built an elaborate system
of dykes and levees
385
00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:27,040
to protect the city.
386
00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:36,240
But it isn't just river water
that threatens New Orleans.
387
00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:43,480
There are also storm surges from
hurricanes that slam into the coast.
388
00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:50,520
The city is much more vulnerable
to floods from the sea
389
00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:53,440
because the protective wetlands
around the city
390
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:56,280
have started to dry up and shrink.
391
00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:59,800
80% of New Orleans
is now below sea level.
392
00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:11,280
The lower Ninth Ward is on the
eastern side of New Orleans.
393
00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:15,400
Here, the only thing
that separates the residents
394
00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:19,280
from the water five metres above them
is this wall.
395
00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:28,280
Robert Green lives here,
396
00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:32,040
and he'd never thought
of the nearby canal as a threat.
397
00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:35,760
We grew up loving the water,
we grew up fishing,
398
00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:39,520
you know, so it never was
a sense of danger.
399
00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:50,200
He's always lived
on Tennessee Street
400
00:36:50,200 --> 00:36:52,160
in the heart of the neighbourhood.
401
00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:54,880
A lot of children,
a lot of families,
402
00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:56,920
a lot of fun going on.
403
00:36:56,920 --> 00:37:00,400
Right now, you would have nothing
but noise from children.
404
00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:05,280
Robert used to take care
of his three granddaughters.
405
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:07,960
My grandkids were always with me.
406
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:09,920
If you saw me, you saw them.
407
00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:14,120
That's how they was - three sisters
together
408
00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:16,800
with the old man to play with
sometimes.
409
00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:27,320
Tennessee Street was just
two blocks away from the flood wall.
410
00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:32,920
In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina
churned across the gulf
411
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:35,520
towards the Louisiana coast.
412
00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:43,360
It pushed a 3.5-metre storm surge
up the Mississippi Delta,
413
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:47,280
testing the dykes and canals
that protected the city.
414
00:37:50,720 --> 00:37:53,480
One of those canals channelled water
415
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:56,440
straight towards
the lower Ninth Ward.
416
00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:06,000
*
417
00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:13,440
As Hurricane Katrina
raged around them,
418
00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:16,440
Robert Green and his family
had no choice
419
00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:20,440
but to stay in their home
and take their chances.
420
00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:23,120
As time passed on,
the weather changed,
421
00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:26,840
I was listening to the wind,
listening to the rain,
422
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:29,360
and the water started
coming through.
423
00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:37,640
The water from the hurricane
storm surge was beginning
424
00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:40,120
to lap over the top
of the flood walls.
425
00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:47,120
Another lower Ninth Ward resident,
Ernest Edwards,
426
00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:49,720
knew this was a worrying sign.
427
00:38:49,720 --> 00:38:51,520
You could see the water rising.
428
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:53,880
It came up to the top of the wall,
429
00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:58,760
and I told my son, 'It's time to go
get on a bridge. It's time to run.'
430
00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:01,000
We didn't have much time.
431
00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:06,680
As he got to the bridge, water
was pouring over the flood walls
432
00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:09,040
and eroding the foundations.
433
00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:14,600
The lower Ninth Ward
was starting to fill up.
434
00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:17,240
At about four o'clock
in the morning,
435
00:39:17,240 --> 00:39:20,560
my brother said,
'Robert, we have water in the house.
436
00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:22,360
We have to get to the roof.'
437
00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:29,560
Just minutes after they reached
the roof,
438
00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:33,720
the full force of the storm surge
smashed through the flood wall
439
00:39:33,720 --> 00:39:36,720
and swept towards Tennessee Street.
440
00:39:42,240 --> 00:39:46,680
It knocked Robert Green's house
clean off its foundations.
441
00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:51,560
It literally pushed us
into the middle of the street.
442
00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:54,960
Literally, our house floated
from 1826 Tennessee Street
443
00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:57,920
down the street
and hit up against a tree.
444
00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:04,600
I just felt this was it.
445
00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:10,760
The impact threw his three-year-old
granddaughter off the roof.
446
00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:16,320
She was lost in the dark
rushing water.
447
00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:24,400
There was nothing I could have done
to save my granddaughter.
448
00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:27,720
There was no sense in trying
to reach for her, she was gone.
449
00:40:27,720 --> 00:40:29,240
She was washed away.
450
00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:33,160
The odds were stacked against us,
451
00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:36,640
the hole in the levee
and the water coming through
452
00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:39,960
was so great that it just flushed
everything away.
453
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:49,600
As dawn broke, thousands of lower
Ninth Wall residents
454
00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:51,680
were stranded on their roofs.
455
00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:56,400
Robert and his two surviving
granddaughters were among them.
456
00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:06,040
The sun came out,
the clouds were gone,
457
00:41:06,040 --> 00:41:08,640
the wind was gone,
the rain was gone,
458
00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:11,360
and in the distance,
we heard a boat.
459
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:15,480
It was Ernest Edwards.
460
00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:20,120
He found Tennessee Street submerged
in 5.5 metres of water.
461
00:41:20,120 --> 00:41:24,200
All the trees along that street
had people in them.
462
00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:30,840
Now to stop loading up
and start riding.
463
00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:32,480
I didn't stop riding
464
00:41:32,480 --> 00:41:35,800
till seven o'clock that night,
picking up people.
465
00:41:38,080 --> 00:41:41,040
Ernest Edwards literally
saved our lives
466
00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:44,440
and probably 200, or even more than
that, people.
467
00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:49,880
But there were many people
in the lower Ninth Ward
468
00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:52,320
who couldn't be saved.
469
00:41:54,640 --> 00:41:57,240
It was a sad day.
470
00:41:57,240 --> 00:41:59,640
A whole lot of them died down there.
471
00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:02,680
It was a sad, sad, sad situation.
472
00:42:14,720 --> 00:42:19,000
The wall at the lower Ninth Ward
wasn't the only one that failed.
473
00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:24,920
A total of 50 flood defences
were overwhelmed.
474
00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:35,760
Over 700 people died,
475
00:42:35,760 --> 00:42:39,720
and 370,000 were left homeless.
476
00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:48,320
Damage was estimated
at $80 billion,
477
00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:52,320
making it the costliest flood
in recorded history.
478
00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:06,360
The power of floods
is unpredictable and deadly.
479
00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:12,400
No matter where they come from
or why they begin,
480
00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:15,720
floods are almost impossible
to control.
481
00:43:17,680 --> 00:43:21,400
So next time it rains,
keep your eyes on the sky.
482
00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:26,040
The world's deadliest natural
disaster could be on its way.
483
00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:57,760
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484
00:43:57,760 --> 00:43:59,800
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