All language subtitles for When.Big.Things.Go.Wrong.S01E01.Doomed.From.the.Start.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-BurCyg_track3_[eng]

ANNOUNCER: This program is
rated PG, and contains

ANNOUNCER: This program is
rated PG, and contains

mature subject matter.

Viewer discretion is advised.

(OPERATOR SPEAKING ITALIAN)

(MAN SPEAKING)

NARRATOR: It's the deadliest
bridge disaster
in Italy's history.

It's no longer a bridge.
It's just a collection
of concrete chunks raining down.

But why did it collapse?

Was it corrosion?
Was it an impact?
What was the reason for it?

Now...

engineers unlock the clues
to the world's biggest
disasters...

to find out what happens
When Big Things Go Wrong.

Watch it, watch it

These are the ultimate fears
that keep engineers awake
at night.

MAN: Oh, my god.

11:30 on a stormy
Tuesday morning in Italy's
largest port city.

Genoa is kind of famous
for these strong thunderstorms
like water bombs.

So that morning was one
of those mornings.

Travelers are warned
to stay indoors.

But Genoa's major highway,
the E80, is filling up
with traffic.

Among the drivers,
off-duty firefighter,
Davide Capello.

(SPEAKING ITALIAN)

Davide joins the
hundreds of cars
crammed on the E-80.

The E80 is also known as
the Trans-European motorway,

because it connects
ten countries over 3,000 miles
of highway.

Spanning a key link:
one of Europe's longest bridges

named for its designer,
Riccardo Morandi.

The Morandi Bridge was
really ahead of its time.

He was trying materials
and methods that weren't used
up to that point,

so he was trying to advance the
state of the art.

The bridge is among the
world's longest, the length
of 13 football fields.

It's what's called
a "cable-stayed" bridge.

The striking design features
a deck supported by cables.

They're wrapped in concrete
and hang from massive
300-foot-high piers.

For me it was always like,
"Oh, look at this masterpiece,"

look at this
piece of engineering
rising across this valley.

Because it was a very imposing
severe structure,

sometimes it was also menacing.

What nobody knows,
is the bridge is in trouble.

On this dark
and stormy morning,

every vehicle crossing it
brings it closer to collapse.

Davide Capello is one of many
drivers approaching the bridge.

(TICKING)

(TICKING)

In front of him,
a slow-moving lane of cars.

Davide drives onto
the bridge deck,
150 feet above the city.

(DAVIDE SPEAKING)

For Davide, and many
other drivers, time is up.

(TICKING)

A massive 690-foot section
collapses...

taking over 30 vehicles with it.

It's no longer a bridge,
it's just a collection of
concrete chunks

raining down on the
apartment buildings
in the city below

as well as carrying cars from
on top of the bridge down
into this hellish

scape of debris and destruction.

It's the worst engineering
disaster in Italy's history.

As emergency services search
for the injured and dead,

everyone wants to know
why the bridge collapsed.

I remember going on the scene
and there's this huge gap.

And and you're kind of
left thinking, "What happened?"

The first reaction was,
loss of life, hurt people.

The second one is the
engineering side of it.

Was it corrosion,
was it impact?
What was the reason for it?

Those were the questions
that were going on in our minds.

How could a bridge that has
stood for over 50 years
be gone in seconds?

The answers to this mystery
begin before the bridge
was even built, in 1958.

Italy's economy is booming.

But its roads are in dire need
of modernization.

So a brand new network
of highways is being built,

including one to the port city
of Genoa.

Genoa is a crazy city.
It's squeezed between
the ocean and the mountains.

There's very few
east-west roads,

so you would get stuck.

To cross the ancient city,
a mile-long bridge is needed.

But building it won't be easy.

MATTIOLI: We have
residential condominiums,

a big railyard,
we have industries

so we need an engineer
that can think of a bridge

that can skip above these
different things.

In 1962, a call goes out
to the world's greatest
architects

including Riccardo Morandi.

Morandi was was revered
within the Italian
engineering community

as something of an
engineering genius.

He was designing and
constructing bridges
and conceiving bridges

and bridge designs that were
very different from what was
standard at the time.

Famous for his lighter
and thinner bridges,

Morandi picks
a cable-stayed design.

(MORANDI SPEAKING)

But Morandi's plan comes
with a big problem...

a design flaw that's
the first clue to
the bridge collapse.

His decision will contribute
to a disaster 50 years from now.

A cable-stayed bridge features
multiple thick cables supporting
the deck and traffic below.

On designs like
the Brooklyn Bridge,

the load is spread across
tens or even hundreds of cables.

But Morandi relies on just
four cable stays coming down
from each pier.

When he designed the bridge,
many thought that the
four cable stays per pier

were state of the art.

It's a big risk.

There's not that much
stuff there to keep
the bridge up,

which is pleasing to the eye,

but it's a balance
between looking good
and staying upright.

Morandi takes the gamble.

The minimal design may
look elegant,

but using fewer cables comes
with a crucial weakness.

The problem with having
a cable-stayed bridge
with only four cables

is if just one of those cables
fails, the entire structure
is compromised.

Ultimately, it's bad news.

Flaw design on big projects
carries big risks...

a lesson learned the hard way
at another infamous bridge.

Washington State's
Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

At 2,800 feet long,
this structure was

the third-longest
suspension bridge in the world.

Opened in 1940, it's a marvel
of modern engineering.

And just like
the Morandi Bridge,
it has a design flaw,

one revealed on
a windy winter's day.

One day in early November,
the bridge is twisting
up to 28 feet

and at angles of 45 degrees.

Stuck on the bridge
is Leonard Coatsworth,
a local news editor,

forced to abandon his car.

He's heard a cracking noise

and is desperately trying
to get to safety.

So what led to its
unexpected collapse?

Like the Morandi,
the Tacoma Bridge
has a minimalist design.

The structure holding up
the bridge deck
is thinner than usual.

Traditional designs have
a thick central truss,

but here it's a girder
just eight feet wide.

The bridge deck didn't have
a large metal stiffening truss
underneath it.

Instead, the bridge deck was
held up on long girders that ran
along the sides of the bridge.

The result is a bridge
that looks thin and elegant.

But there's a fatal weakness.
It's too flexible.

The bridge even gets a nickname.
Galloping Gertie.

The wind was sufficient
to excite the bridge and
ultimately shake it apart.

It lasts just four months.

The breaking point,
when wind speeds surpass
40 miles per hour.

But Morandi's bridge
stands for over five decades.

So what else can explain
its disastrous collapse?

Coming up...

More clues uncovered.

When you incorporate
a new design
and a new material,

those risks don't just add,
they multiply.

And later,
more shocking disasters
When Big Things Go Wrong.

When big things go wrong,
engineers need to
figure out why.

In the collapse of Italy's
Morandi Bridge,

the first clue
is its flawed design.

But the bridge doesn't fall down
right away.

So what else goes wrong?

In the aftermath of this
bridge's collapse

there is a lot of anxiety.

The question on everyone's mind
is "Why did this happen?

"Why did this go wrong?"

Morandi's daring decision
to use pre-stressed concrete
could spell disaster.

But how?

As the bridge is built,

the steel cables that will
hold up the road
are put in place.

These need protection
from the elements.

Normally in a
cable-stayed bridge,

the stay cable would be encased
within some kind of skin made
out of metal, say steel.

But Morandi tries
something else.

There's a new material
at the time,

pre-stressed concrete,
which was a revolution

for the era in the 1960s
that allowed bridges to be built

that were much more slender
and more beautiful.

Morandi decides to wrap
each of the steel cables
in pre-stressed concrete.

Rarely would you see
a stay cable encased
within pre-stressed concrete.

This new material was something
that wouldn't have been used
that many times at this scale.

But Morandi and his engineers
think it can work.

A beam made from
ordinary concrete is brittle
and breaks easily under stress.

Pre-stressed concrete contains
steel wire pulled tight.

They squeeze and compress
the concrete for extra strength.

ASEGUN HENRY: So it's a rather
clever idea, right?

The idea that the concrete
itself is very strong when
it's in compression.

Its ability to resist bending
is actually better.

You get more strength out of it.

Morandi also thinks concrete
will protect the cables
over time.

He races ahead.
And in 1967 his daring bridge
opens to excited crowds.

This bridge is so sound,
it's so robust,

it's so efficient
and technologically-advanced

that it basically will never
need maintenance.

At least, that's the idea.

There's always a risk when
you're trying out brand new
designs and techniques.

But it's only when you build it
that you really know
if it works.

It's a risk
a wedding party in Jerusalem
tragically discover.

Versailles Hall. Jerusalem.

Seven hundred guests
celebrate the marriage
of Keren and Asaf Dror.

The ceremony took place
earlier that day.

Now the couple are partying
with close friends and family.

It's a wedding.
Everybody's having a good time
out on the dance floor.

Then all of a sudden...

(SCREAMING, COLLAPSING)

It's hard to imagine observing
something quite so horrific
going from joy to tragedy

in such a short space of time.

BELL:
Half the building has collapsed.

Twenty-three dead, 356 injured.

It's the most
lethal civil disaster
in Israel's history.

It was so bad that
an investigation was
launched to find out

if this was the result
of a terrorist attack.

The truth was much simpler.

What they found was concrete
was to blame.

Just like the Morandi Bridge,

Versailles Hall is built using
a new type of concrete.

It's thinner than usual
and known for its
strength and durability.

But this concrete floor
doesn't support the weight
of a wedding celebration.

When you have people dancing
in rhythm with the music,
and in rhythm with each other,

that's gonna induce a load
on the structure

that would have been simply
too much for this weakened,
overweight structure to handle.

More than 350 people,
including the newlyweds,
fall through two floors.

The groom survives, and carries
his bride from the rubble,
injured but alive.

This particular concrete was
just a recipe for failure
from the start.

The lesson for the
Morandi Bridge disaster,

untried materials can bring
unintended consequences.

But how did this new concrete
trigger the collapse?

In Italy, the collapse of the
Morandi Bridge shocks the world.

MATTIOLI: How do we go
from building one of the most
extraordinary structures

in the world to a
sudden collapse

that nobody even anticipated?

Time for the next clue.

HERRMANN: Morandi tried
to prepare for the future,

and his thoughts were that

the steel cables compressing
the concrete would keep
the concrete from cracking.

And then concrete encasement
around the steels would protect
the steel from the environment.

In principle, that's a good idea
because pre-stressed concrete
shouldn't crack.

The challenge is, that if it
does crack,

you can't see
hidden deterioration
within your structure.

And the inability to inspect
the condition of
the stay cables in particular,

that was one of the big faults
that Morandi made in designing
this bridge.

Another problem,
the bridge's location.

It's located less than
one kilometer from the ocean,

so you have all this
sea salt air, this ocean air.

The positioning of the
Ponti Morandi Bridge was
almost the worst-case scenario

because salt water
is extremely corrosive.

Plus you have a lot of factories
which increase to the pollution
and they mix

with the salty air
from the ocean,

and the bridge is immersed
in this atmosphere for
a long time.

In 1979, cracks begin appearing
on the towers and even
on the stays.

Morandi himself
raises the alarm.

Morandi goes back on the bridge
and starts realizing that
there are

some problems with the concrete.

What he found was the effects
of the saltwater mist,

and also all the factories
under the bridge

with the industrial pollution,
were combining to rapidly

decompose the materials
on the bridge itself.

To try to stop the decay,

Morandi issues orders
to concrete over the cracks.

I mean, he's not saying
that the bridge
is structurally compromised.

He's just saying, you know,
the concrete
needed intervention.

But hidden within the bridge's
concrete stays,

the corrosion runs far deeper
than Morandi imagines.

Salt and pollution have crept in
and are eating into the
critical steel support cables.

Over time, up to 30% of
the metal inside each
of the stays disintegrates.

Work to seal up the cracks
is finally completed in 1985.

But the repair just makes
things worse.

Normally, if you just had
exposed metal,

the water would just
evaporate off when it warms up.

All this concrete actually
prevents the water from
being able to get back out

so it can start eating away
at the metal over time.

The crucial components
supporting the entire weight
of the bridge

are concealed and failing.

That same flaw will doom
a Philippines high-rise in 2004.

The crowded megacity of Manila.

An unseen problem brings
an eight-story tower
crashing down.

As a structural engineer,
it's really surprising.

This is the kind of thing
that we just don't see.

There is something about
the foundation of this building

that has gone
really horribly wrong.

Just like the Morandi Bridge,
there is unseen danger lurking
inside its structure.

For the past five years,

weaknesses have slowly developed
deep in the tower's foundations.

When you build a building,
you have to be concerned
with the quality of the ground

that you're building it on,
not all dirt is the same.

Some dirt has a tendency
when it rains to become
mud-like.

There is an entire group
of engineering professionals
called geotechnical engineers

whose job it is to understand
the sub-surface conditions
in the foundations of buildings.

Occasionally,
geotechnical engineers
get it wrong.

Before it falls,
this tower gives a warning.

A loud crack rings out
as it starts to tilt.

Occupants scramble to safety,
and the authorities close the
busy road.

Just in time.

Just like the tower block
in the Philippines,

the Morandi Bridge in Italy
is heading for disaster.

But there's still a chance,
if clues are seen,
the catastrophe can be avoided.

Coming up...

Will engineers finally spot
a key warning sign?

Everyone's like,
"Hold on one second,
how is it possible?"

And poor maintenance makes
a deadly outcome inevitable.

That water wants to get out
of that dam.

When big things go wrong,

there's always a reason why.

In Italy, engineers continue
searching for the cause of
the Morandi Bridge collapse.

Some things are clear.
The bridge's design is flawed.

DICKRELL:
If one of those cables fails,

there's really not much room
for error for the rest of the
cables to take up the load.

The new wonder material used
to build it has a weakness.

We now know that concrete
has its limitations.

But what else accounts
for the bridge collapse?

MATTIOLI: I think this story
is not just about
a failed design,

I think this story is about
an incredible design,

that everybody who came after
failed to maintain.

Morandi personally carries out
inspections.

But after he dies in 1989,
there are no more for
the next three years.

Finally, in 1992,

engineers focus on the
three towers that hold up
piers 9, 10 and 11.

MATTIOLI:
There were inspectors
going up tower number 11,

and they see on the top of
the tower

that all the stayed cable
that were supposed to be
imbued in concrete

are corroded, that they're not
supposed to look this way.

Huge red flag, right?
Because this is the crux
of the whole design.

As that corrosion starts
to happen, those steel cables
become a liability.

So if the metal snaps,
you lose that ability
to stress the concrete

and all of a sudden the concrete
becomes much weaker
and it'll snap.

They decide to repair
the exterior of pier 11.

MATTIOLI: They managed
to reinforce the tower by adding
more cable on the outside.

They look into tower number 10
and tower number 9.

But they don't really see
nothing wrong with them.

So, one tower
is totally compromised.

and you decide to intervene
right away.

And then the other two are fine?

After repairs to pier 11
are completed in 1994,

no other major repairs
take place for 24 years.

MATTIOLI: All the people saying
it looked fine, it looked fine.

I don't think anybody feared
that the bridge would fall down.

When a big structure
is already compromised,
a lack of upkeep can be deadly,

as a dam disaster in Brazil
dramatically proves.

A busy mine in the south-east
of the country.

Hundreds of workers extract
20,000 tons of iron ore per day.

The mine also produces
billions of gallons of
liquid waste

stored behind a 400-foot dam.

And like the Morandi Bridge,
maintenance here rarely
takes place.

On January 25th, 2019,
the dam collapses.

Two hundred seventy die.

The Brumadinho Dam is an
example of what not to do in a
large-scale engineering project.

From the outset,
this structure is doomed.

The Brumadinho Dam is
what's called an upstream dam.

Unlike a normal dam
that's fully constructed
before it's filled with water,

an upstream dam is built
as it's filled.

Most large modern dams
are made of concrete,

but this one's made of earth,
waste from the mine itself.

And as the mine grows,
so does the dam.

You are essentially building
a dam on a dam on a dam,
on a dam.

And building the dam
ever higher.

And putting ever more material
behind the dam.

An inspection shows
pressure is building.

That water wants to get out
of that dam,

so it's exerting a great deal
of force on that dam,

which is not particularly
well-constructed.

When it's already too late,
a team is sent out
to drill holes

and relieve
some of the pressure.

But it bursts, sweeping workers
to their deaths.

So if these boreholes had been
created earlier before the
entire structure of the dam

was saturated with water,
then maybe the failure
could have been prevented.

Coming up...

More shocking disasters
When Big Things Go Wrong.

After standing tall
for over 50 years,

the Morandi Bridge in Italy
collapses suddenly with
a massive loss of life.

What sends it over the edge?

Hidden below its surface,
invisible to the thousands
of people crossing it every day

are clues to its demise.

However, one obvious
warning sign was missed
right from the start.

Another bridge built by Morandi
in Venezuela is strikingly
similar to his design in Italy.

DICKRELL: That bridge was
very well regarded

so much so that it helped him
win the bid

to basically duplicate the
same style of bridge in Italy.

But the Venezuelan bridge
is not as strong as it looks.

NEWSCASTER:
A 1,500-foot section of
this five-mile concrete bridge

was ripped out by an oil tanker

that got out of control
in Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela.

The accident
reveals the fatal flaw
in Morandi's design.

The tanker only had
to take out one leg
to start a chain reaction,

and an 850-foot-long section
of deck has come crashing down
into the lake below.

The Italian bridge
could have the same problem.

But astonishingly, Morandi makes
no attempt to change it.

He's ignoring the warnings
from his own bridge
in Venezuela.

The Venezuela bridge lasts

lasts just two years before
its weakness is exposed.

The Morandi Bridge
stands for five decades.

But its hour of reckoning
is near.

What tips it over the edge?

DICKRELL:
This bridge is in trouble.

It's gonna fail,
it's just a matter of when.

(TICKING)

Davide Cappello
leaves his girlfriend's home

and jumps on the highway
on his way to Genoa.

(DAVIDE SPEAKING)

MATTIOLI: The thing that
everybody remembers
very clearly is how

dark everything got
by 11:00 a.m.
because of this thunderstorm.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

A sign of impending doom
goes unnoticed.

BELL: You'd be forgiven
for looking at this footage
and thinking, "So what?"

Look again.

Pier 11 is surrounded by
re-enforcement

just like it has been
for the last 25 years.

Pier 10, nothing strange

Pier 9, stop there.

Do you see that there?
That is an enormous crack.

When we see a crack
that's the width of a coin,

we tend to get worried in
a reinforced concrete structure.

It's telling us
that the structure
is in significant distress.

This huge crack
suggests the bridge
could be minutes from failing.

One more car or truck
could be the final straw.

(TICKING)

As rain pours down,
the last few cars
drive onto the bridge.

(TICKING)

At 11:36am... time is up.

(TICKING)

-BELL: There's a loud crack,
-(EXPLOSION)

and it appears that one
of the main stays

that hold the road
deck in place snaps.

(DAVIDE SPEAKING)

DICKRELL: It's no longer
a bridge, it's just a collection
of concrete chunks

raining down on
the apartment buildings
of the city below.

You immediately think
of how many cars are on it.

In just 17 seconds,
a 690-foot section of bridge
has smashed into the city below.

(OPERATOR SPEAKING)

(MAN SPEAKING)

Over 30 cars
plummet into the void,

one of them containing
Davide Capello.

Emergency services
scramble to vehicles suspended
in the ruins of the bridge.

Some drivers
are rescued quickly,
but Davide remains trapped.

(MAN SPEAKING ITALIAN)

Davide has fallen nine stories,

further than he
or anyone could imagine.

His SUV stuck inside a crater
in the collapsed wreckage.

(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)

Davide finally crawls out
the rear window,

miraculously unscathed.

The collapse
doesn't just shock Italy,
it shocks the world.

Forty-three are dead,
16 seriously injured,

600 homeless.

A state of emergency
is declared,

as investigators
search the rubble
looking for answers.

Italy has just suffered

one of the worst
engineering disasters
in its history.

A 690-foot section
of the Morandi Bridge
has collapsed.

Dozens are dead
and hundreds of people
evacuate the area.

The city is in shock
at a collapse that
seemed to come out of nowhere.

But look through the eyes
of an engineer,
and the clues are all there.

A fatally-flawed design.

With just four main members
holding up

the weight of that bridge,
it's rather surprising
it lasted for so long.

Untested new materials.

Rarely would you see
a stay cable encased
in pre-stressed concrete,

and that's what Morandi
chose to do.

Hidden dangers.

The concrete slowly cracking,

the steel cables
buried inside are rusting away.

And a missed warning.

This bridge was doomed
from the start.

(TICKING)

On a rainy August morning,

it can no longer support
its own weight.

The collapse starts
when corroded steel cables
inside pier 9 finally snap.

(MAN SCREAMING)

Highly-tensioned steel
gives way,
like an elastic band breaking.

HENRY: Now the entire bridge
in unbalanced, the weight
transfers immediately.

As soon as it transfers,
the next one breaks.

DICKRELL: As the support
s break away
the structural integrity

of the Ponte Morandi Bridge
is lost.

BISBY: The forces from that
are transferred back
to the tower,

and you have this
domino-ing failure
of the rest of the structure.

(EXPLOSION)

The collapse takes
just 17 seconds...

crushing cars and warehouses...

destroying Railway lines...

killing 43.

It's a day no one in the world
will forget.

MATTIOLI:
Imagine a structure that you

associate with something
that is robust and solid,

and then all of a sudden
coming down like that
is definitely

shocking.

(DAVIDE SPEAKING)