Shows / Emergencies and Natural Disasters
Emergencies and Natural Disasters
What happens when an ordinary day suddenly becomes a fight to survive? Emergencies and Natural Disasters explores the moments when earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, wildfires and other catastrophic events transform familiar places in minutes. Warning signs appear, decisions become urgent, and survival can depend on what people notice—or fail to notice—before conditions spiral out of control.
Each story follows the unfolding disaster, emergency response, evacuation efforts, survival decisions and…
Episodes
- Emergencies and Natural Disasters
The Vanishing of USS Insurgent: 340 Souls, No Trace, No Answer
The Vanishing of USS Insurgent: 340 Souls, No Trace, No Answer Fear that history can erase entire crews in an instant - a forty-gun frigate, 340 men aboard…
- Emergencies and Natural Disasters
Three pieces of a Japanese submarine found where the Navy dumped its own disaster's evidence
Three pieces of a Japanese submarine found where the Navy dumped its own disaster's evidence The discovery of three pieces of a Japanese Ko-hyoteki midget…
- Emergencies and Natural Disasters
When a Sprinkler Killed the Town: The Conyers Chemical Blast
When a Sprinkler Killed the Town: The Conyers Chemical Blast Fear that a routine safety device could trigger a town-wide catastrophe: within hours of one…
- Emergencies and Natural Disasters
The Night 74 Vanished: Empty Boats, Bottle Letters, Unsolved Sea Mystery
The Night 74 Vanished: Empty Boats, Bottle Letters, Unsolved Sea Mystery Fear and bewilderment: seventy-four people boarded the SS Naronic and simply vanished…
- Emergencies and Natural Disasters
Man in the Wrong Vest: The Unsolved Riddle of the Price
Man in the Wrong Vest: The Unsolved Riddle of the Price The corpse that washed ashore wore a cork-and-canvas life preserver stenciled with the name of a…
- Emergencies and Natural Disasters
Night of the Maiali: How Six Men Sank Britain's Mediterranean Power
Night of the Maiali: How Six Men Sank Britain's Mediterranean Power The calm sea that morning hid an attack so quiet it left three British warships crippled…
- Emergencies and Natural Disasters
When 143 People Vanished: The Bridge That Shouldn't Have Fallen
When 143 People Vanished: The Bridge That Shouldn't Have Fallen The crowd that day thought they were on a routine holiday ride; instead, 143 passengers plunged…
- Emergencies and Natural Disasters
When Water Betrays: Racing to Save 300-Year-Old Sunken Timber
When Water Betrays: Racing to Save 300-Year-Old Sunken Timber Mud-preserved timber frames, buried for roughly 300 years along the Alexandria waterfront, began…
- Emergencies and Natural Disasters
When Mail Killed: The Untold 1971 Thiokol Plant Blast
When Mail Killed: The Untold 1971 Thiokol Plant Blast Fear that the everyday will suddenly become lethal: on February 3, 1971, a fireball rolled toward a…
- Emergencies and Natural Disasters
When a 38,000‑lb Piece of Metal Flew Over Philadelphia at Dawn
When a 38,000‑lb Piece of Metal Flew Over Philadelphia at Dawn At 4:22 AM on June 21, 2019, a 38,000‑pound piece of metal crossed the Schuylkill River and…
- Emergencies and Natural Disasters
When an East Indiaman Vanished: The Unsolved Disappearance of Lord Nelson
When an East Indiaman Vanished: The Unsolved Disappearance of Lord Nelson The sea swallowed an armed East Indiaman that had survived a French privateer, three…
- Emergencies and Natural Disasters
The Ship That Vanished Twice: The Unsolved Disappearance of Bannockburn
The Ship That Vanished Twice: The Unsolved Disappearance of Bannockburn A single cork life preserver washed ashore on December 12, 1902 - no ship, no bodies…
- Emergencies and Natural Disasters
When a Lake Vanished: The 14‑Inch Hole That Ate Louisiana
When a Lake Vanished: The 14‑Inch Hole That Ate Louisiana A tranquil ten-foot-deep lake disappeared into the earth in a single afternoon, driven by a…
- Emergencies and Natural Disasters
Locked Gate, Eight-Hundred-Foot Flames: The Point Comfort Disaster
Locked Gate, Eight-Hundred-Foot Flames: The Point Comfort Disaster A single 1.9-inch hole in a propylene pipeline turned into an 800-foot wall of fire within…
- Emergencies and Natural Disasters
When a Trailer Burned a Town: 6,000 Tonnes of Ash
When a Trailer Burned a Town: 6,000 Tonnes of Ash A single celebratory gunshot on February 28, 1844 turned a presidential cruise into a massacre: a…
- Emergencies and Natural Disasters
One Rocket, 134 Dead: How USS Forrestal Became a Floating Inferno
One Rocket, 134 Dead: How USS Forrestal Became a Floating Inferno Heat, aged explosives and a single stray rocket turned a routine launch into a catastrophe…