Original subtitles

- Tonight on "History's Most Shocking."

How did a woman survive being sucked into a tornado?

- With wind speeds in excess of 200 miles an hour,

you really don't wanna be anywhere near a tornado.

- [Tony] Why are some elevators out of control?

- It's very rare that all of the cables would snap

at the same time.

- [Tony] Are killer whales seeking revenge on humans?

- There have been over 500 reports

of this pod of orcas attacking yachts.

- [Tony] And why does this

keep happening here?

- Bridge versus truck?

Bridge wins every time.

- [Tony] Disasters.

- [Broadcast] Oh, the humanity.

- [Tony] Shocking video.

Life or death decisions.

Behind history's caught-on-camera moments...

- What to do with one dead whale.

- [Tony] Are the mysteries of how and why they happen.

- Some sort of metal fatigue was most likely at fault.

- It's like a bulldozer.

Very few buildings can actually withstand

that force of moving water.

- I'm Tony Harris.

[mountain lion roaring]

[engine revving]

Prepare to be shocked.

[dramatic music]

Good evening and welcome to "History's Most Shocking."

In the "Wizard of Oz," Dorothy gets whisked away

by a tornado to a magical land

where a Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion

help her get home to Kansas.

Well, people do get tossed about by twisters in real life

and their stories don't always have such happy endings.

March 31, 2023. Little Rock, Arkansas.

Kimberly Shaw and her husband

are inside her dentist's office when she sees

what appears to be a tornado forming in the distance.

- I was like, okay, it's just gonna go, you know,

like a mile in front of us

and we'll get an awesome video.

Oh, I'm getting it.

- [Tony] Kimberly continues to record on her cell phone,

but pressure from the wind gusts pulls the front door open.

- [Kimberly] Oh my God.

- [Tony] She desperately pulls it closed

as power lines begin to spark.

Suddenly, the pressure on the door increases.

Kimberly and her husband try to hold it shut and then...

[wind whooshing]

- [Tony] Take a look at that moment again.

As the doors blow open,

Kimberly is getting sucked out of the building.

- It is absolutely terrifying in that moment,

but I always thought that if I can keep the door shut,

we'll be okay, not thinking about

the million windows behind me.

- [Tony] Kimberly grips onto the building

as she is pulled up into a maelstrom

of glass and steel, flailing like a rag doll,

until her husband is able to pull her back inside.

Amazingly, the couple only sustains some cuts and bruises

and she was able to keep recording on her phone

the entire time.

- [Tony] Anyone who has seen Dorothy

get sucked into a tornado on "The Wizard of Oz"

can appreciate the terror,

and it does happen to real people.

In 2006, 19-year-old Matt Suter was swept up into a tornado

after it tore through his grandmother's mobile home

in Fordland, Missouri.

Suter was tossed 1,300 feet.

He miraculously survived with just some head trauma.

In this latest case,

it turns out Kimberly was caught

in one of several destructive storms

that struck across the Midwest.

- At the end of March 2023

and the beginning of April 2023,

there was an outbreak of 147 tornadoes across six states.

This tornado that nearly sucked up Kimberly

was 1.3 miles wide

and it traveled 30 miles through the city.

Some homes had their roofs ripped off,

others were completely obliterated.

Five people were killed.

- Tornadoes often wipe out entire neighborhoods.

They can reach wind speeds so powerful

they can even drive a piece of straw

straight through the trunk of a tree.

So how did Kimberly emerge

with just a few scratches and bruises?

Let's see what our experts think.

First, how powerful is a tornado?

- We're talking about wind velocities

exceeding 100 miles per hour.

People being flung just like they're paper dolls into space.

- We have two by fours

that are hurling across the parking lot.

If one of these were to hit her in the head,

it probably could have killed her.

- [Tony] And if you actually survived being sucked up,

the center of the tornado is the last place you'll wanna be.

As air pockets move toward the middle of the vortex,

they expand, causing the air to become thinner and colder.

- The energy of this swirling mass

goes into the rim of the tornado

causing enormous destruction,

while the inside has low pressure.

You are in an area where oxygen

is literally being sucked out.

It means you can suffocate.

You're choking, you're gasping for air.

Temperatures could easily drop.

You could freeze being inside a tornado.

- [Tony] So how was Kimberly able to survive?

According to our experts, it was just plain, old, dumb luck.

It could have and maybe should have ended much worse,

considering the spot she chose to watch the storm from.

- This should go into the textbook

for what not to do in a tornado.

One of the worst places to be in a windstorm

is a glass doorway.

What they should have done

is gotten into an interior hallway.

Get down low to avoid flying debris,

and even cover your head with pillows or blankets.

- The takeaway?

When you see a tornado,

find proper cover away from doorways and windows.

It is a complete miracle that Kimberly survived this event

standing where she was.

If you followed her example

during your next tornado encounter,

chances are you won't be so lucky.

Now to something much more common than a twister.

Every day, millions of people around the world

ride commuter trains.

For many, the trip is one of those few precious moments

in the day when you can close your eyes and just relax.

Or can you?

[tense music]

October 2019.

It's a seemingly normal commuter train ride

in Moscow, Russia.

One woman is riding alone in a quiet passenger car,

but that quiet won't last long.

[train horn blaring]

A camera in the front car

captures the train operator slamming on the brakes,

but it's no use.

The car smashes into the train in front.

Take another look as the collision

sends shards of glass flying.

Meanwhile, in the back of the train,

the lone passenger is violently thrust out of her seat

and onto the floor.

Clearly shocked by the impact, she clutches her jaw in pain.

- It immediately went viral because a commuter incident

really touches millions of people.

It's their biggest nightmare

that as they're concentrating on their daily routines

and they have their lives in the hands of somebody else,

something terrible could happen to them.

- [Tony] In fact, commuter train accidents

are a cause for concern,

whether you're in Russia or in the United States,

as one out of control train

in Hoboken, New Jersey made very clear.

- In September 2016, a train pulling into

the final station in Hoboken, New Jersey couldn't stop.

The train went over the bumper block

and came to rest right before the passenger waiting area.

- [Tony] The bumper block is a barrier used

to prevent trains from going past the end

of the railway track.

- [Joe] In the aftermath of the accident,

one person died and more than 100 people were injured.

- In that Hoboken accident,

the NTSB report concluded the engineer's failure to stop

was caused by fatigue due to undiagnosed sleep apnea.

Is it possible something similar happened in Russia?

Is this human error we're looking at

or mechanical failure?

[tense music]

In the Russia video, it appears the out of control train

doesn't even attempt to slow down

before plowing into the other train.

Could this just be a brake failure?

- The train braking systems

are probably one of the safest systems ever designed by man.

- [Tony] But that doesn't mean they're perfect.

- One of the most common things

that happens to braking systems is extreme cold weather.

Because train braking systems

have a lot of rubberized parts and seals,

they can shrink and leak and that can cause problems.

- [Tony] But Quimby doesn't see any signs

of extreme cold as the trains collide

and he believes modern technology

rules out a mechanical or computer breakdown.

- All braking systems are designed to fail safe,

so if there was any mechanical

or computer related malfunction,

the braking system would've applied the brakes.

- [Tony] But it's clear the collision happened so fast

that even though the conductor made a last second effort

to slam on the brakes,

they didn't engage in time to avoid the collision.

The driver fares much better in this accident

than the passenger,

even though she's riding at the front of the train.

But that's because she has something passengers don't.

- The seat restraint kind of keeps her safe

and alive in that seat.

She doesn't get thrown into the the glass in front of her.

The passenger did not fare as well.

Looks like she sustains

both impact to her face and her chest.

- [Tony] So if it's not the brakes, how did this happen?

A closer look reveals a clue.

- What's really clear to me is that the operator

is interacting with their phone,

most likely texting or looking something up.

It's pretty clear she's coming into the station

and the train ahead is not moving and they're gonna impact.

When your job is to operate a train

with people's lives on board,

that has to be your priority.

- The takeaway?

Clearly, distracted driving

and operator error led to this crash.

Here in the US, we've taken steps to make sure

this doesn't happen again.

A horrific 2008 train crash in Chatsworth, California

caused by texting led lawmakers to ban cell phone use

by train operators.

- Elevatophobia is the fear of elevators.

It's common and it's usually irrational,

but sometimes it is extremely well founded.

Watch this.

[tense music]

January 8, 2022. Taizhou, China.

It's business as usual at this local factory.

A CCTV camera records a worker loading a freight elevator.

He then steps out to pull the door down.

But in that moment,

the elevator suddenly drops out of the blue.

By some miracle, the worker escapes,

walking back over with two colleagues

to gaze down the empty shaft.

Take another look.

The instant the man steps off, the car plummets.

Close calls don't get any closer than this.

Fortunately, accidents like this are rare,

but they're not unheard of.

Check out this shocking January 2023 incident

from Venezuela as the elevator cables snap

and the car comes crashing down with two workers inside.

You may not even be safe at home.

Watch what happens in this August 2023 footage

from a residential high-rise elevator

in Changsha, China when three men

are thrown toward the ceiling as the elevator

suddenly drops several floors.

- Thankfully, the elevator stopped

and didn't go all the way to the ground.

They survived, but I think

they were probably pretty traumatized.

- [Tony] He had such a close call,

this guy in Taizhou was probably traumatized, too.

Rudimentary elevators have been around

since the early 1800s,

but it wasn't until Elisha Otis

demonstrated the first elevator safety brake in 1854

that they started gaining public acceptance.

That made skyscrapers possible,

revolutionizing the urban landscape.

Times have changed, but have elevators kept up?

Why did this factory elevator plummet

and what can you do to protect yourself?

Many elevators work with a traction system

using a motor and pulleys.

- Over those pulleys will run a series of cables.

On one end of the cable,

you'll have what's called a counterweight,

which is a big block of concrete, typically,

that weighs about the same as the elevator car

when it's half loaded.

And each one of those cables is able to hold the weight

of a fully loaded elevator.

- [Tony] In addition, elevators are now equipped

with a more modern safety brake

that works by operating on a separate cable

that runs over a wheel.

In a sudden fall, this wheel, or overspeed governor,

is designed to stop moving so that a lever attached

to the cable is pulled up and closes the emergency clamps.

These days, all of these mechanical functions

are controlled by an electrical system.

So what caused this elevator to fall?

Did the cables snap?

- It's very, very rare that all of the cables

would snap at the same time.

It's only happened once in elevator history.

In 1945, when a US military plane

was fighting to find its way through the fog

and it crashed into the Empire State Building.

All six cables was severed

and the elevator went crashing 75 floors down.

- [Tony] What makes that story even more amazing?

A woman inside the elevator miraculously survived.

- As the elevator was shooting down the elevator shaft,

the air underneath it got compressed

and it acted like an air cushion.

- [Tony] But is this the same thing

that happened in Taizhou?

One key moment in the video appears to hold a crucial clue.

- The timing of the factory worker

stepping off of the elevator seems to indicate

perhaps that sudden shift in the weight of the elevator

triggered some sort of response there mechanically

that caused it to fail.

Ultimately, his weight may have triggered

some sort of load imbalance,

therefore causing the elevator to suddenly fall.

- [Tony] But since the sudden fall

should have caused the overspeed governor to stop moving,

automatically activating the safety brake,

some crucial component of that braking mechanism,

such as the clamps or the cable, must have failed as well.

- It was more than likely maintenance failures.

So the China Elevator Association has data

that shows that over half of elevator failures in China

are a result of maintenance or repair neglect.

- The takeaway?

This elevator likely failed

due to poor maintenance practices.

Here's hoping that all gets turned around.

China accounts for nearly two thirds

of all new elevator installations

worldwide each year.

Meanwhile, experts believe your best bet

to survive a falling elevator is to lie flat on your back

and cover your head to protect from debris.

Now we're gonna get dirty.

The word mudslide can sometimes be misleading

since it's not just mud that makes up

this natural phenomenon.

Picture instead an avalanche of dirt, trees,

hard rock, and debris coming at you full force,

destroying everything in its path.

Take a look at our next video to see what I mean.

[tense music]

August 2018. Grugnay, Switzerland.

Francois Voeffray is relaxing at home with his family

when a heavy hailstorm hits this small alpine town.

- [Tony] Francois runs outside to check it out,

but he never expected to see this.

A river of black sludge is roaring down a drainage tunnel.

[debris thudding]

- [Tony] Suddenly, the cascading mudslide

overflows onto the street.

Mud and rock shoot 20 feet in the air

before crashing down and swallowing the entire roadway.

- [Tony] Was this entire town about to be buried alive?

It's happened before, with deadly consequences.

- [Tony] The town of Grugnay, Switzerland

is on the verge of being wiped out by a massive mudslide,

a terrifying wave of dirt and debris.

- When a mudslide rips through an area,

people are not just seeing wet mud come through,

but everything that wet mud pulled down with it.

Trees, rock, and that's what's really destructive here

is just the weight of of all of this stuff

and water mixed together,

basically cutting through buildings and roads and towns.

Imagine a wall of concrete slamming into your house.

That's what we're seeing here in Switzerland.

- Mud and landslides aren't just a threat in the Alps.

Here in the US, a horrific 2014 landslide

in the town of Oso, Washington claimed 43 lives

after a hill collapsed, annihilating much of the town.

But what is ultimately causing these kinds of slides

and why did this one form so suddenly?

[tense music]

- When you look at the video,

you can see that there was a trough in the area,

which means that the people in the local area

are expecting a lot of rain to come down.

- [Tony] But this time, the town got more precipitation

than it bargained for in the form of rain, snow,

and hail, a dangerous combo for any sloping soil.

- So what happens is that water just forms into streams

and comes straight down into the valleys.

It's also near the Alps and very high mountain ranges

where you get a tremendous amount of snow pack.

It could be a snow pack broke away like an avalanche,

and then it basically melts as it's coming down by friction,

which increases the water.

- [Tony] As that torrent makes its way down the mountain,

erosion adds more loose earth to the mix,

ratcheting up the power of the mudslide's punch.

- It's picking up all the mud, sticks,

rocks, everything around it.

It's almost like a vacuum cleaner.

It's just collecting everything that it could grab into it.

- [Tony] So that's how it formed.

But if it happens to your, what should you do?

- Unlike a tornado, in this kind of a disaster,

you do not want to go to the basement.

That will completely fill with mud.

If you're able to, get to higher ground.

Climb a hill, climb a tree,

get up to the top floor of your house,

put as much distance between you and that mud as you can.

- [Tony] The worst place to be?

Well, it might surprise you.

- If you find yourself in a car, that's a death trap.

A mud flow like this will take your car

and just scoop it up and carry it along with it.

- Luckily, Francois and his family

were able to reach high enough ground in time

to witness this phenomenon safely,

but it's still a day they'll never forget.

- The takeaway?

A confluence of events caused this to happen.

Avalanche, loose soil, and a warm summer

that melted the high altitude ice pack.

Luckily no one was killed,

but scientists warn that climate change

could produce more of these events.

Moving on.

The ocean can be a scary place,

but luckily it can be enjoyed peacefully

from the safety of a boat.

Or can it?

It depends on if there are killer whales nearby.

[tense music]

May 24, 2023.

In the waters off the coast of Spain,

a four person crew is delivering a yacht

from the Azores Islands to Gibraltar.

A member of the crew notices what she thinks

is a friendly pod of dolphins swimming alongside their boat,

but as they get closer, she begins to panic.

It is actually a pod of killer whales.

[water spraying]

- [Tony] Well, they don't.

Instead, the orcas begin to headbutt the vessel.

- [Tony] The crew dumps rice in the water to attract fish,

hoping a meal will distract the predators,

while banging pots and pans to scare the whales.

But they aren't deterred and they ram the boat again,

and again,

and again.

Seemingly intentionally targeting the rudder.

The attack continues for over an hour

with the orcas eventually breaking through the hull.

The yacht starts to take on water.

- [Tony] Perhaps the crew shouldn't be surprised.

It turns out this isn't the first boat

to have encountered violent orcas in the waters near Spain.

- Since only May of 2020, there have been over 500 reports

of this pod of orcas attacking yachts

off the Iberian peninsula.

Are these orcas becoming more aggressive?

It certainly seems so.

- Interestingly, orcas are known

to have symbiotic relationships with humans.

Historically, off the coast of Eden, Australia,

killer whales have been used

to herd other whale species into bays

so that humans could then catch

and kill them for their blubber and bones.

So why are these orcas attacking the boats?

Let's see what our experts think.

- [Recorder] Oh my God.

[water sprays]

- [Tony] So if the object of the orcas' attention

was the boat,

were they trying to eat the people on board?

- Orcas aren't known to attack people in the water.

There's been one report that we know of

where in 1972, an orca attacked a surfer.

And even then, it was probably more so play behavior

that went wrong.

- Juvenile animals are playful

and fishing laws have become more strict

and there's a lot more juvenile whales in the water.

However, I'm not so sure this is playful behavior.

Typically, wild whales don't interact like this

with human vessels or humans in general.

Orcas are such intelligent animals.

Have they developed a taste for revenge?

- [Tony] Not revenge against people, but possibly boats?

Yep, Steingass says this might be

a premeditated master plan of a single whale,

an angry female named White Gladis

who's got a reputation for this behavior.

- The leading theory is that White Gladis

at some point experienced a traumatic event.

It's likely that she was injured by a rudder

or propeller of a boat, because that seems to be

specifically what she's targeting.

- [Tony] Orcas are matrilineal, meaning

their pods are frequently led by the oldest female.

So is it possible White Gladis

is passing on this behavior to younger whales?

If so, there are some things voters in Spain can do

to avoid an orca on the offensive.

- As a result of these incidents,

the Spanish authorities have taken to mapping orca sightings

and so there are several websites that you can consult

and obviously avoid those areas.

If you can, stay as close to the shoreline

as you can safely navigate.

20 meters of water or less is considered safe

because the orcas don't come that close to shore.

And then stay away from wherever bluefin tuna congregate

because that's where orcas feed.

If you find yourself surrounded by orcas,

I would immediately call for Coast Guard assistance.

- And in the end, that's exactly what this crew did.

- And in the end, that's exactly what this crew did.

Luckily for them, help arrived in time

to tow their boat to shore before it sank.

Our takeaway?

This orca behavior is still unexplained.

It's certainly terrifying, but it's uncertain

if we're looking at something playful

or the revenge of White Gladis.

- Some drivers see the speed limit sign as a suggestion

with about five to 10 miles per hour of leeway

before you'll get into any real trouble.

But these next drivers learn the hard way

that some road signs aren't as forgiving.

[tense music]

December 13, 2016.

It's morning along this quiet intersection

in Durham, North Carolina.

The light turns green, signaling traffic

to pass under this 80-year-old railroad bridge.

That's when an unsuspected truck driver

comes to a fate all too familiar to the locals.

[metal scraping]

Let's see that again from another angle.

The moving truck steams full speed under the bridge,

shredding its top off as the roof gets wedged.

This one notorious bridge

routinely finds new ways to maul its prey,

from clean shreds, to peeled wedges, to full out destruction.

These are just a handful of trucks falling victim

to what's become known as the dreaded can opener bridge.

[metal scraping]

Durham resident Jurgen Henn has been monitoring the mayhem

for more than 20 years.

- I noticed every once in a while,

there'd be yet another truck stuck under the bridge

right outside the building.

So in 2008, I finally set up a camera.

- [Tony] Since then, Jurgen has recorded

and posted more than 170 can openings on his YouTube page,

and it turns out the problem goes back much further

than even Jurgen realized.

- This infamous bridge is known as

the Norfolk Southern-Gregson Street Overpass,

built in 1940 with a clearance of 11 feet, 8 inches.

But as the trucking industry evolved,

the size of trucks got bigger and bigger

and all of a sudden, some of the infrastructure

that existed before wasn't big enough to fit.

Soon people were calling this bridge

the granddaddy stopper of them all.

- An average of 15,000 bridge collisions happen

every year nationwide.

But why do they keep happening at this same bridge?

Sure, trucks are bigger,

but is there something else going on

and why isn't anyone fixing it?

[tense music]

You may not believe it based on the videos,

but it turns out the city does try to warn drivers.

- The city of Durham did install

low clearance signs on three blocks

leading up to the bridge.

Also, they've taken technology that measures with lasers

and then provide warnings to the individuals

who are driving forward.

- [Tony] It's a commendable effort,

but clearly the signs and warnings aren't 100% effective.

So could the road be lowered to provide more clearance?

Martinez says infrastructure,

such as the presence of underground pipes,

makes that a challenge.

- Those pipes are about four feet below,

so you're gonna still have to have them covered

to protect them, so it's not considered feasible right now.

- [Tony] Then how about raising the bridge three feet?

That's much easier said than done.

- The problem is it has to be done over a long distance,

usually involving several miles.

- Trains aren't roller coasters.

Any changes in the level and grading of the train tracks

need to be done gradually.

- So you're gonna have to bring in

thousands of cubic yards of earth or fill

to help raise the track,

but then you're gonna create the domino effect

and cause more changes

to everything along the line in either direction.

- [Tony] Despite these challenges,

it turns out engineers were able to make a change,

but it's far from a perfect solution.

- They've raised the bridge eight inches.

You know, it's a small change with really small effect

because the regular trucks

are still about 13 feet, 6 inches or more,

and so there's still gonna be this mismatch.

- [Tony] Professional truckers rely on years of experience

and even modern technology like apps

to know about potential hazards.

But based on the kind of truck

that appears to be in the majority of these accidents,

there's a theory about why this keeps happening.

- It's not a surprise that your rental trucks

would be the ones that fall victim to this bridge the most,

and that's because a lot of times, folks,

when they rented a truck for the first time,

they're not familiar with clearance

and so they're not really paying attention like they should

to the clearance of the bridge in front of 'em.

- [Tony] Jurgen Henn sees hope for the future.

- As the number of crashes is going down,

I feel mostly relieved.

I feel mostly relieved.

The point of the channel was always

to help create awareness of this problem,

and now that it's getting better,

I'm really super happy about it.

- The takeaway?

This is one of those quirks of urban development.

Newer vehicles literally colliding

with old infrastructure,

and that reliable constant,

human error behind the wheel compounding the problem.

I certainly hope things continue to get better,

but if there's one thing we've learned about bridge height

and driver awareness

is that you can raise both only so much.

This next story is about one of the most frightening

and tragic displays of the Earth's power we have ever seen.

[tense music]

December 26, 2004.

Ko Lanta Island, Thailand.

It's the morning after Christmas

and Cleo Ivanoff and her family are excited

to spend another beautiful day on the beach.

Cleo's father brings his camera,

but when they get there, the tide is eerily low,

revealing moss covered rocks

usually found deep beneath the water.

- We could see in the eyes of people living there

that it was not something they had ever seen

and then the sea just became a mess.

- [Tony] Suddenly, a fishing boat

is tossed around like a toy.

- [Tony] Cleo and her family grab their belongings

and retreat, but the waves won't stop.

They are now crashing through the vacation resort.

- We started to see that the water was not stopping,

and from that on, it was panic.

[dramatic music]

- [Tony] About 40 miles away on the island of Phuket,

a man is filming from his balcony

and it appears things are only getting worse.

- [Witness] That wave is a good 15, 20 feet tall. Easy.

[people exclaiming]

Get in, get in, get in!

- [Tony] After massive waves hit the shore,

people cling for their lives

as everything is washed away in the blink of an eye

and the devastation is immense.

Soon, every corner of the globe

is reporting on what becomes known as the Christmas Tsunami.

- Before this event, people were unaware

that this level of devastation could occur.

- [Tony] The tsunami pummels 14 different countries,

including Indonesia, India, and Sri Lanka,

all of whom experienced death and devastation

unlike anything they ever had before.

- There was no warning given.

People were not able to evacuate.

Up until this moment, people didn't really understand

how bad a tsunami could get.

- Tsunami is a Japanese word that means harbor wave.

But as devastating as these waves in the Indian Ocean were,

the record holder is the 1958 tsunami

that hit Lituya Bay, Alaska.

It cleared trees 1,720 feet above sea level.

And while that disaster claimed only five lives,

the Christmas Tsunami of 2004

killed more than a quarter of a million people.

What caused it and what can we do if it happens again?

- The Earth is like an egg

with a broken shell all around it.

Those little things are called plates.

But out there in the Indian Ocean,

the plates ruptured and had this huge 9.1 earthquake,

and that's what just caused a very large tsunami.

- [Witness] Get in, get in, get in!

- [Tony] The earthquake that started it all

was the third largest recorded earthquake

in the history of the world and released

the energy equivalent of 23,000 atomic bombs.

Usually, these big quakes

get detected quickly enough to warn people.

- [Bob] We take the precautions.

They put sensors on the bottom of the ocean

and so they can feel the pressure of those waves.

We get a move of a earthquake,

first place that gets warnings is Hawaii, Japan,

all these areas because that tsunami

could be going across the ocean.

- [Tony] But because this particular area of the ocean

hadn't seen any seismic activity

in more than a century,

no such precautions had been put in place.

- They didn't have any sensors

or any warnings that this had happened

and that just compiled to make this a very bad situation.

- Now as these waves move over the deep ocean,

they're barely noticeable.

They move at 300 to 600 miles an hour.

- [Tony] Once out of the deep ocean,

the increasing pressure from the shallower sea floor

pushes the water up into a rising swell.

- They slow down and come roaring ashore

as these giant walls of water

that could be over 100 feet high.

- [Tony] Years later, this issue would be remedied

by the creation of a warning system

which sends underwater movement data

to India, Indonesia, and Australia.

And even without such technology,

there are warning signs you can look out for on your own.

- One of the interesting things that happens before a tsunami

is that the water actually pulls away from the coast,

exposing the seabed.

- [Tony] Just like a tide, the water is pulled back

to help feed the massive wave.

- And folks will be lured to the coast out of curiosity,

wondering what's going on.

But when that water pulls away,

it means it's gonna come back with a mountain of force.

[wave crashing]

- [Tony] Cleo and her family

were among the fortunate survivors.

They made it to dry land and lived to tell the tale.

- We were so lucky,

mainly because we were in the right place at the right time.

- The takeaway?

Blame this on a massive undersea earthquake

and lack of early warning systems.

That has been addressed.

More than half a million earthquakes happen every year,

so it may be just a matter of time

before we see a massive tsunami like this one again.

Hopefully we'll be more prepared.

- When it comes to motorcycle safety,

most riders are probably concerned

with cars and drivers on the road,

but sometimes the road itself can be your worst enemy.

September 2013.

Michael Henao is riding from Boulder to Berthoud, Colorado

on his super motobike.

That's a cross between a dirt bike

and a motorcycle design for racing on different surfaces.

The journey takes the motorcycle instructor

to a flooded road

and he has to decide whether to try to go across.

- I thought about turning around,

but I had crossed a river

literally like two weeks before that.

And that's why I went for it.

- [Tony] At first, Michael appears

to be navigating the rushing water successfully, but then...

[dramatic music]

Suddenly, Michael is swept away

and separated from his bike,

dragged along by a mighty current.

- Water pushes me under and it and it spins me

and the whole screen goes dark.

And that was the first time I'm like,

"Dude, what kind of situation did I just put myself in?"

- [Tony] Michael's been caught in a flash flood.

It's a common road hazard in Colorado.

- In Colorado alone,

there are over 268 flood prone cities and towns.

- [Tony] Experts say Colorado has seen major flooding

when rains have occurred on ground reduced to ashes

and dry soil by wildfires.

This means moderate rainfall can cause significant flooding

because that damaged soil can't absorb water

as quickly as it normally would.

- The national 30 year average

of flood deaths is about 88 a year,

and nearly half of those are vehicle related.

You don't want to go into water rushing over the road.

That's the first rule in a flash flood.

[dramatic music]

- Venturing into a flooded road can be deadly

because it's so easy to misjudge

how deep the water is since the road ahead might dip.

So how exactly did this flash flood form so quickly

and what did Michael do to survive?

[tense music]

This video makes one thing perfectly clear:

in situations like this, W-A-T-E-R spells trouble.

- This was a 1,000 year flood event across Colorado,

meaning there is a 1/10th percent chance

of this occurring in any given year,

and we did get quite a bit of orographic rainfall.

- [Tony] Orographic rainfall is produced

when moist air is lifted as it moves over a mountain range.

As the air rises and cools,

orographic clouds form and release precipitation.

The mountain blocks further movement

and rain becomes concentrated

on the windward side of the mountain,

increasing with elevation.

More than 17 inches of rain, about an entire year's worth,

fell on Boulder in just seven days.

- The combination of the orographic rainfall,

the high anomalous moisture content in the region,

and the terrain all came together

to cause deadly flash flooding

across a large portion of Colorado.

- [Tony] And that spelled doom for Michael.

- It only takes about six inches to start moving a car

and two feet will move a truck or an SUV.

He's in a motorcycle. There's really not much weight to it.

This was definitely deep enough

for someone that is inexperienced

to lose their life.

- [Tony] So how did Michael escape death?

- He let the bike go.

Focus on saving yourself, and that's exactly what he did.

Your best bet is to look downstream,

try and put your feet up ahead of you downstream

so if you crash into anything,

it's gonna be your feet first and not your face.

And he managed to grab onto some branches of a tree

and was able to get ashore.

- I ended up walking back to the staging area.

It was kind of like the walk of shame.

What I've learned is is if the water

looks like a wild ocean,

probably a good idea not to mess with that one.

- The takeaway?

Bad judgment.

While it's easy to blame the weather for Michael's accident,

even he knows he never should have tried

to cross in the first place.

Believe it or not, Michael did end up recovering

his bike two days later and the camera company, GoPro,

was so impressed with his footage,

Michael inked a deal with them.

And that's our show for tonight.

Thank you so much for watching and stay safe out there.