All language subtitles for D D S01E03 Cyclones 1080p AMZN WEB-DL DD2 0 H 264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

A hurricane can unleash
as much energy in a day

as 10,000 nuclear bombs.

With a combination of
torrential rain, powerful winds

and devastating storm surges,

hurricanes can wreak havoc
when they reach land,

but are particularly
catastrophic

when they strike
low-lying areas.

With accounts from survivors

and fascinating
expert insights,

we investigate two of
the most devastating hurricanes

of modern times:
Hurricane Katrina,

which struck the gulf coast
of America in 2005,

and Hurricane Maria,
which hit Puerto Rico in 2017.

If America, one of the richest
countries in the world,

is unable to protect its cities
and territories,

we have to ask:

What can we possibly do
to save ourselves

from one of Mother Nature’s
deadliest forces?

You know, hurricane seasons
come each and every year.

We’ve had hurricanes.
We’ve always had hurricanes.

What we haven’t had is
development along our coastlines

like we have today.

Large cities
growing in population,

we’re putting more buildings
and people in harm’s way.

Hurricanes are
a natural process.

What creates the disaster
are the people in buildings

that are in the way
of the hurricane.

There are three names given
to rotating tropical storms

with winds that reach speeds

of at least
119 kilometers per hour.

These names vary

depending on which part
of the world they occur in.

They are known as hurricanes

when they develop

over the western
North Atlantic,

central and eastern
North Pacific,

Caribbean Sea,
and Gulf of Mexico.

They are called cyclones

when they form over the
Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea,

and as typhoons when they
develop in the Western Pacific.

Their names may vary,

but all three are essentially
the same thing:

a devastating storm
with ferocious winds

that can cause
death and destruction

on a terrifying scale.

In order to form, hurricanes
require warm sea temperatures.

They typically build in
the tropical waters

that lie between
the Tropic of Cancer,

north of the Equator,

and the Tropic of Capricorn,
south of the Equator.

They begin as
tropical disturbances

in warm ocean waters,

when surface temperatures
reach 26.5 degrees Celsius.

The lowest strength hurricane
is called a Category 1,

when wind speeds maintain
the basic threshold

of at least
119 kilometers per hour.

Hurricanes are rated from
a minimum Category 1

to a maximum Category 5

using what is known
as the Saffir-Simpson scale.

Created in 1970 by a civil
engineer and a meteorologist,

really to try to create
some sort of category

and some sort of parameters
where we could define

the type of damage
created by the storm winds.

It was a way to say
how do we portray

the strength of these
hurricanes to the public

so they really understand

the power of the hurricane

and really understand
that they may be at risk

and need to evacuate.

Category 1 hurricanes
are considered dangerous

and will produce
some roof damage.

Large tree branches will snap,

and destruction to power lines

will result in
temporary power outages.

When winds reach
154 kilometers per hour,

the storm becomes a Category 2,
resulting in major roof damage.

Entire trees will be uprooted

and outages will last
for several days.

The effects that you get
from infrastructural damage

aren’t just
the direct effects of

a roof
falling on someone’s head

or anything
to that effect.

Those are less frequent.

It’s more the long-term damage
of not having

the electricity, the Internet,

all the wherewithal,
the roads that are necessary.

If the hurricane graduates
to a Category 3,

you’re now experiencing winds

of at least
178 kilometers per hour,

resulting in
devastating damage.

Many roads will be blocked by
uprooted trees.

Once winds have reached
209 kilometers per hour,

the storm has now entered
Category 4,

and preparations must be made
for catastrophic damage.

It is likely you will be
without electricity

for at least several weeks,
possibly even months.

But if you’re
unfortunate enough

to experience
a maximum Category 5,

expect that most homes
will be completely destroyed.

Winds will reach speeds of at
least 252 kilometers per hour,

and entire areas
will be considered

virtually uninhabitable
for a lengthy period of time.

These days, people
are even talking about

some of these hurricanes
have gotten so strong

that in the future
I can easily see

someone creating a Category 6.

Hurricanes spin around
a center known as the eye.

The eye of the hurricane
is probably

one of the most
famous characteristics

that you see in the hurricane
that people recognize

and, you know,

a lot of times you’ll see
the eye of the hurricane

20 to 40 miles across.

The eye wall is where you get
the highest wind speeds

right around
the thunderstorms,

right around that eye wall,
and right around the edges

is where you get
your intense winds,

and that’s where
the highest wind speeds

and the most damaging part
of these hurricanes is,

right in that eye wall.

Hurricanes are dangerous
for a number of reasons.

When these powerful storms
make landfall,

they can cause the sea to rise
into a devastating storm surge.

When it hits landfall,

that storm surge,
anywhere from a couple of feet

to up to 20 feet, is what
truly causes the devastation.

Ninety percent
of the fatalities

in these tropical systems
is water.

So the narrative has to be
about when we close our eyes

we often think about the wind.

We talk about hurricanes,
but we need to get to a point

that when we close our eyes
we see the water,

because that’s what’s
actually historically

causing the fatalities
in tropical systems.

It is a little-known fact

that nearly 90 percent
of all hurricane deaths

don’t result from
the ferocious winds,

but from storm surges.

In 1900, a hurricane
in Galveston, Texas,

brought with it
a disastrous storm surge

that caused the death
of somewhere

between 6 to 12,000 people.

We didn’t have
all the technology beforehand

to warn people
that it was coming

until it was too late or
it was already making landfall.

And we saw the end result

of thousands of people
that lost their lives,

especially in the floodwaters,
the storm surge.

It remains the deadliest
natural disaster

to ever strike
the United States.

Not only are a hurricane’s high
winds extremely destructive,

but they can even spawn
tornadoes.

The one hazard
that people probably

think of the least is
the actual tornado threat,

and often we see these tornadoes
and the rain bands

well away from the center,
a lot of times

they could occur 100 miles or
even more away from the center.

So it’s in places
where people might think

they’re not in the hazard,
but they really are.

These massive
storms can unleash

more than 9 trillion liters
of rain a day,

causing deadly floods
and landslides,

which may occur
many miles inland.

Although many complications
arise from hurricanes,

some problems come even before
the storm has made landfall.

These problems start to happen
not necessarily

during the hurricane,
if it’s a hurricane,

but any event
for which we have warning,

people start preparing
for it.

And as they start preparing,

they sometimes inadvertently
cause damage to infrastructure.

They’re putting up shutters,

and as they do so,
they fracture a line.

As catastrophic
as these hurricanes may be,

they can serve some necessary
functions in nature.

Hurricanes can relieve
drought conditions,

carry heat away from
warm parts of the world

and transport it
towards cooler places.

This movement may play
an important role

in moderating
the Earth’s climate.

The hurricane season
runs from the 1st of June

to the 30th of November.

And it occurs during
those six months of the year,

because we have the buildup
of heat in the tropics,

and the ocean temperatures
also start to warm up.

However you can get hurricanes
outside of that season as well,

as we saw looking at Alberto.

We like to think about this

as all year long
we have to be ready.

It occurs during
this six-month period

due to increasing temperatures
in the northern hemisphere

as well as a buildup of heat
in the Tropics,

resulting in an overall
increase in ocean temperatures.

The 2005 hurricane season

had already produced
a number of damaging storms,

but the worst
was yet to come,

in the shape of the most
destructive storm ever

to hit the United States:

Hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans, a city
with 480,000 inhabitants,

was bracing itself
for bad weather.

On the 23rd of August,

a storm formed over an area of
low pressure near the Bahamas.

The following day,

the new depression intensified
into Tropical Storm Katrina.

It headed westward
towards Florida,

where Governor Jeb Bush
warned residents

to prepare for a coming storm.

By the time it made landfall in
Hallandale Beach and Aventura,

Katrina was officially declared
a Category 1 hurricane.

But away from the warming
effect of the ocean,

it briefly weakened back
into a tropical storm.

You have this weakening effect
once they make landfall,

and a lot of that is
you lose that fuel source.

So once you hit the land,
you lose the fuel source

and you also start
to introduce friction.

So you don’t have any friction
because there’s no trees,

there’s no terrain
over the open oceans.

But once you get on to land,

you start having some terrain,

you start having some trees,

some friction that interrupts
that wind flow.

Once it left land and merged
into the Gulf of Mexico,

it quickly regained its energy.

Hurricane Katrina
had an interesting journey.

At first, it was born
off the Florida east coast

and then it moved down shore,

just barely a Category 1
across south Florida.

Then, as it exited into
the Gulf of Mexico,

it went into a large, large,
warm pool of water.

That was extra fuel
for Katrina

to then quickly intensify
to that Category 5 strength.

The United States Coast Guard
began placing vital resources

in a circle of safety outside
the areas of the Gulf Coast

where they expected
the hurricane to strike.

People started to stockpile
food and essential supplies.

By mid-morning,

the petrol stations

that were not out of fuel

had long lines
of anxious drivers.

A state of emergency
was declared

by President George W. Bush,

in selected regions
of Louisiana, Alabama,

and Mississippi.

The declaration
did not include any

of Louisiana’s coastal civil
parishes of Orleans, Jefferson,

and Plaquemines.

Coast Guards
moved their personnel

outside of New Orleans.

Many citizens didn’t wait
for the government

to come to their rescue.

Those who were able, left.

So when you really look
at the threat of hurricanes

and how people interpret
that information,

I think there’s
a general understanding

that the public has
about the hazards of wind,

the hazards of storm surge,
and the rain.

But what we have to talk about

is their perceptions
of the risk.

So there’s a decision that has
to be made by each individual,

to ask themselves, "Am I at risk
from this hurricane?"

Most infrastructure
along the Gulf Coast

closed down
in preparation for Katrina.

The vital
Waterford Nuclear Power Plant

was also shut down,

and a number of emergency
shelters were set up

on coastal communities.

Thirty-one additional shelters
were also made available,

should they be needed.

On the morning
of the 28th of August,

Mayor Ray Nagin ordered
a mandatory evacuation.

It was the first time
that residents of New Orleans

had ever received
such a serious warning.

Despite the grave consequences
they would face,

many people refused
to leave their homes.

Others were simply unable
to do so.

Some believed their homes
would hold up in the storm,

while others just wanted
to protect their property.

In the hope
of keeping people safe,

local residents were told
to seek safety

in the shelter of last resort:
the Superdome.

You have a lot of people
under crowded conditions,

and that enhances
the possibility and probability

of all kinds
of respiratory diseases,

diarrheal diseases,
and we absolutely saw that

as a huge problem in the people

that were put in the stadium
in Katrina.

Food and bottled water were
made available at the stadium,

but New Orleans mayor,
Ray Nagin,

urged those seeking shelter

to bring provisions
for several days,

warning people
that the shelter would be

a very uncomfortable place.

The toilets overran,

and there were problems
with fecal material,

and a lot of people
suffered diarrheal diseases.

Hurricane Katrina
hit land for the second time

at 6:10 a.m. local time,

with sustained winds
of 201 kilometers per hour.

We’ve been talking
about the winds,

and everybody talks about
the category,

but it’s really about
storm surge and flooding.

On the 29th of August,

Katrina’s storm surge
caused 53 breaches

to various flood
protection structures.

This caused 80 percent
of the city to go underwater.

Throughout the metropolitan area,

flood walls and levees
were deluged.

Building codes
have to be improved,

they need to be enhanced.

We need to have
stronger structures,

we need to have
prepared residents,

and we have to think about

whether we are putting
development in harm’s way.

And in some cases that’s a very
tough question to decide.

Everyone wants to live
near the water.

It’s a beautiful place.

But if it’s a place
where a hurricane comes,

then that place
needs to be built the right way

and everyone needs to be
prepared in the right way

because that hurricane season,
it comes every year,

and you may have a hurricane
come your way.

Every weather report stated
that it would

and the projection in a city
like New Orleans

being hit by
a Category 4 or 5

that came up between
Mississippi and Louisiana

would totally destroy
the city.

This was a storm that we hoped
would never come.

Infrastructure,
including several bridges,

was completely destroyed.

Those who had survived,
dotted the tops of houses.

Some had hacked their way
onto their roofs

with hatchets
and sledgehammers.

Many of these survivors
were forced to stay in place

long after Hurricane Katrina
had passed.

Unfortunately,
many didn’t make it.

Some elderly
and disabled residents

died in the floodwaters.

Coordination of rescue efforts
during the first two days

were complicated by failures
in the communications system.

The relief efforts
in New Orleans were,

as always
in all of these things,

hampered by
communication problems.

One of the big problems
that we had in New Orleans

was the fact that cell towers
were not working,

and so there was a huge problem
with communication

and getting things to the right
place at the right time

to the right people.

Although communication
systems failed,

the world was able to see what
was happening in New Orleans

thanks to news crews
and reporters.

When the reporters
understand the issues

and then understand also
the effects

of over-reporting, right?

And how that can give
the wrong message to people,

they function much better,

they become part of our team.

When the first images

of the devastated city
were shown on television,

the world was stunned
and horrified.

How could something like this
happen in contemporary America?

Katrina was just so awesome

that it caught everybody
off-guard.

And I think that it caught
the city off-guard,

everybody was hoping
that it would turn,

and when the devastation
actually hit,

I think it took a couple of days
for it really to sink in.

In Louisiana,
almost 900,000 people

found themselves without
clean water and electricity

for several weeks.

Not since the San Francisco
earthquake of 1906

had a city in the U.S.
been so completely devastated.

The National Coast Guard
sent in their air crews

to begin a round-the-clock
rescue effort.

Some came to work
and left when they found out

that their families were--

And that their homes
were destroyed,

and they didn’t know
where their family was,

which obviously, mentally,
it’s a devastating situation

that goes along with
this catastrophe.

Hospitals started
to run low on fuel

for their
emergency generators,

And a number of beachfront
towns in Mississippi

were severely damaged.

Water from the surge

had reached
several kilometers inland.

As the news spread,

the world began to realize

that the area
was simply not prepared

for the disaster
that had unfolded.

We played our part,
we were here.

The federal government got here
way too late.

The first 72 hours,
almost 60 to 72 hours,

it was the New Orleans
Police Department

and the fire department
by itself,

and that simply was not enough.

Yeah, there were a lot of
reasons why it was not enough.

One of the first things that I
think is important to understand

is that prior to 9/11
and prior to Katrina,

the federal system
had a federal response,

we didn’t have
a national response system.

When a field hospital
had been set up in Baton Rouge,

the medical supplies sent by

the Federal Emergency
Management Agency

had all been designed for use
against a chemical attack.

It seemed that
instead of planning

for a natural disaster,
like a hurricane,

the agency had been preparing
itself against terrorism.

Why we have an emphasis,

or it seems that
we have an emphasis on,

terrorist types of activities

is partly because we think that
we can predict that better.

It’s harder
to necessarily predict,

other than the seasonality,

of when there’s going to be
a hurricane

of a particular magnitude

at a particular location,
or a tornado, or an earthquake.

We have a lot of ideas, we have
a lot of science behind it.

We do realize that
we have to take care of

all these different things,
but in part

it does has to do
with human nature

in that we simply
focus on those things

that we think we can solve.

Some survivors died

of bacterial infections

when untreated open wounds
came into contact

with floodwaters
contaminated with sewage.

I’ve never seen anything
like this before.

It’s... It’s, uh...

Everyone is doing the best
that they can.

Stranded residents were rescued

and sent to the already
overcrowded Superdome.

By then, the Superdome was
leaking through a damaged roof,

had failing power,
and no sanitation.

Food and water
was running out.

And for many people,

the hellish conditions
they were living in

became a symbol
of how unprepared

the city and state officials
had been

for a disaster that most
expected was bound to happen.

I mean, we’ve heard about it
for many, many years,

and all of the experts stated
this would happen.

Reports of burglary
began to rise.

In many cases,

these were just people
desperate to get hold

of essential supplies
for survival.

The National Guard,

which could normally be
relied upon

in a crisis of law and order,
were severely depleted.

As much as 59 percent

of all of Louisiana’s active
National Guardsmen

were either mobilized
or deployed for overseas combat

in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Much of their
military equipment

had also been transferred
to the Middle East.

Hundreds of high-water trucks,

one of the few vehicles
capable of plowing through

such high levels of flooding,
were now being used in combat.

Of the 26 helicopters typically
used for domestic operations,

only three were
presently available.

It was estimated
that roughly 15 percent

of all New Orleans
police personnel

left their posts
in the wake of the hurricane.

Many in the city felt as if
they had simply been abandoned.

They’ve taken hours
after hours to get here.

We’ve been waiting hours,
and it’s--

The sun is beaming,
it’s real, real hot,

it’s stinking out here,

it’s just disgusting
and frustrating.

And we are human beings,

and they’re treating us
like we are criminals.

By then, 85 percent of the city
was underwater.

The news many had been dreading
finally came--

The sandbagging of the
17th Street Canal levee breach

had failed,

and water was continuing
to pour through.

Floodwaters had covered
several chemical plants,

petrol stations
and oil refineries,

as well as
contaminated sites.

With so many people
now affected by flooding,

fears continue to grow
about the health risks

posed by the polluted water
and raw sewage.

However,
relief for these concerns

remained stubbornly
out of reach.

We couldn’t bring in nurses,
doctors

and other people
licensed in other states

until we had them
federalized and legalized

so that they
could function there.

Meanwhile, the USS Bataan,

an amphibious assault ship,

was stationed off the coast
of Gulfport Mississippi.

President Bush,
who had been vacationing

in his ranch
in Crawford, Texas,

returned to Washington to deal
with the growing crisis.

On his way back, Air Force One
flew over the Gulf Coast,

allowing the president a view

of the devastation
in New Orleans.

Reports indicated that
the death toll in Louisiana

had reached 1577 people.

That was more than 85 percent
of all the fatalities

attributed to
Hurricane Katrina.

Five days after
the hurricane struck,

the Superdome
was completely evacuated.

But many people had no idea
of where they were going

or how they would find
the rest of their families.

I’m not going back.

My wife and I, we’ve been
separated since Sunday.

She works for a hospital
in New Orleans,

where she was called in early
to help with the patients.

I don’t know
where she’s located right now,

but I have some people
trying to find her.

After many grueling days,

those who had been evacuated
before the storm

reunited with the survivors

in the largest mass migration
in the United States

since the Civil War.

These survivors had become
refugees in their own country.

It’s hard to be prepared
for catastrophic events.

Most times, local,
state and the federal government

will never have
enough dollars to harden,

really, the infrastructure.

They’re really privately held

to be as prepared
as we should be.

Why did Hurricane Katrina
wreak so much destruction?

Much of the damage
can be attributed

to New Orleans’ location.

Many parts of the city lie
below sea level,

and its lack of wetlands
and barrier islands

only add to the city’s absence
of natural defenses.

While the site was already
low to the ground,

human interference caused it
to sink even further.

As New Orleans
expanded in size,

untouched land became
an increasingly rare commodity.

In order to make room
for housing,

engineers drained swamplands,

resulting in the city sinking

an additional two meters
below sea level.

New Orleans
had a system of levees

to protect the city
from a hurricane

and especially from the
floodwaters and storm surge.

But those levees were built
many years ago,

and they weren’t high enough

for what a major hurricane
could bring.

Well, as Katrina came in,

those levees
were certainly tested.

And as that storm surge and wind
had pushed upon those levees,

it brought
those water levels up,

and unfortunately
it overtopped those levees.

The levees were old,

they weren’t high enough
for what Katrina brought.

And then that water
started to spill into those--

Into the bowl, if you will,
into those communities

that were supposed to
be protected by the levees,

but unfortunately,
Katrina was too much.

Even before Hurricane Katrina,

there was concern
that a severe storm surge

could send water
over the top of some levees,

causing some
short-term flooding,

but no one predicted
levees might collapse

before they were
even breached.

Many of the city’s poorest
and most vulnerable people

lived in neighborhoods
that sat below sea level,

and were perhaps
at greater risk.

A report released by

the American Society of Civil
Engineers concluded

that two-thirds of the deaths
attributed to Hurricane Katrina

could have been prevented
if the levees had held.

Much of the damage
from Katrina

was mainly from
that water and storm surge

than it was from the wind.

What experts couldn’t
understand

was how the city was
so unprepared

despite numerous predictions
of precisely what might happen

if a major hurricane
were to hit.

Cities like New Orleans,

they know there will be
more storms.

So a city like New Orleans
needs to continue now to decide,

how are they going to fight
back against the hurricanes?

Residents need to be prepared,

they need to be ready,

but when it comes
to infrastructure,

the levees, storm surge,
those kinds of things,

that faces every major city
up and down,

not only the coastline
of the United States,

but wherever tropical cyclones
hit around the world.

Now, many years since
Katrina made landfall,

the city is determined
to remember the past

in order to be better prepared
for the future.

They have built new levees
and floodwalls

which are far superior
to those

which were in place
prior to the hurricane.

They are designed
to withstand

an extreme storm that may only
happen once every 100 years.

Although precautions
are being taken,

it does not change the fact

that there is still
a high likelihood

that New Orleans will
flood again.

The city is beginning to change
its attitude

about the water
that surrounds New Orleans.

There is a growing need
to rethink

the outdated method
of dealing with excess water

by simply pumping it away.

The biggest challenge with,
really, hurricanes

is these areas that
are so close to the coast.

The density of population
is huge,

and they’ll be continued
to be impacted by disasters.

Although much of New Orleans

has been repaired and rebuilt,

and appears to be the vibrant,
dynamic city that it once was,

the scars are still there,
out in the open for all to see,

a painful reminder that dealing
with a major disaster

on the U.S. mainland had been
fought with difficulty.

But dealing with a disaster
of similar scale

in an overseas U.S. territory

was about to prove itself
even more deadly.

The devastation caused by
Hurricane Maria

when it struck
the island of Puerto Rico

is truly without precedent.

On the 12th of September 2017,

Maria formed from a tropical
wave that had departed from

Africa’s western coast.

Within the next few days,

the system moved westward,

bringing showers
and thunderstorms with it.

At 2 p.m. local time
on the 16th of September,

the system was reclassified
as a tropical depression

about 1000 kilometers southeast

of the Caribbean islands
of Lesser Antilles.

By 5 p.m., the depression
was carrying winds

of 80 kilometers
per hour,

causing it to be upgraded
to a tropical storm.

The hurricane specialist
on duty

at the National Weather Service
warned that within a few days,

Tropical Storm Maria
could transform itself

into a major hurricane

and hit the British
and U.S. Virgin Islands,

as well as Puerto Rico.

Really,
if you look at the forecast--

Outside of
the very initial forecast,

all the indications
were pointing towards

some sort of impact
in Puerto Rico.

As predicted,

Maria gradually
gathered strength

until its wind speed increased
to 120 kilometers per hour,

making Maria the eighth
hurricane of 2017.

Hurricane Maria became
a major hurricane,

and again when we talk about
that right recipe,

the ingredients needed for
a major hurricane to develop...

During Hurricane Maria’s
lifetime then,

coming across the Atlantic,

having again
that long stretch of fuel,

warm ocean water temperatures, right?

To really help it intensify.

Then you needed
light wind shear...

light upper level winds,
area of high pressure above.

It all came about
in the right way

to intensify that storm
to a Category 4.

On the 17th of September,

three days before Maria
hit Puerto Rico,

a U.S. Air Force hurricane
hunter flew into the storm.

You know, even though
we have advancements

in satellite technology,
radar technology,

computer modeling,

we still need
to fly aircraft,

with humans in them,
directly into the eye,

because what we need

is information
from inside that storm,

and when they get
to the center,

they drop
what’s called a Dropsonde.

It’s an instrument package
that measures weather data

all the way down
to the water surface.

We can take that into account

when we look at
the current pressure.

We can look at the wind field.

It’s incredibly useful to us,

not only in the early stages,

and trying to find out
where the system is,

because that can happen early
on in the formation process,

but in the case
of a developed storm,

it gives us
the latest information,

and we can communicate
that out to the public.

We can communicate that out
to emergency managers

and adjust the forecast
as necessary.

Using the data they collected,

the National Weather Service
warned that Maria

was likely
to further strengthen

and make landfall
in Puerto Rico

on Wednesday,
the 20th of September.

Over the following day,

Maria continued to feed off the
favorable weather conditions.

She went through
the sixth fastest

intensification process
ever measured,

transforming from
a Category 1

to a catastrophic Category 5
in roughly 15 hours.

In Puerto Rico, you know,

before Maria
got impacted by Irma,

you had some of the winds,

but the other part
was the heavy rain.

So you actually had
some saturation of the soil,

you had, you know,
a situation where

there was a lot of rainfall
ahead of time,

so any additional rain
compounds the issue.

Aníbal Meléndez Rivera
has served as mayor

of the port city of Fajardo
since 1989.

The hurricane hunter flew into
the hurricane a second time

and discovered that
its wind speed

was now over 250 kilometers
per hour.

Maria made its first landfall
in Dominica,

part of the Windward Islands
of the Caribbean,

at 9:15 p.m. on the evening
of the 18th of September.

She brought chaos to Dominica,

with most structures
on the island

being either seriously damaged
or destroyed.

As she continued her path

towards the U.S. Virgin Islands
and Puerto Rico,

she maintained
her Category 5 strength.

Just 27 hours later,

at around 1 a.m.
on the 20th of September,

hurricane-force winds
were first reported

on the U.S. Virgin Island
of St. Croix.

The hurricane
was making its way

towards the U.S. territory
of Puerto Rico...

leading its governor,
Ricardo Rosselló,

to warn the island’s 3.4
million residents

that they could be facing
life-threatening consequences.

The eye wall impacted almost the
entire island of Puerto Rico.

So you had the winds,
you had the rainfall,

you had all aspects
of the dangers

of a hurricane right over,
right over Puerto Rico.

As the Puerto Rican government
prepared for the hurricane,

500 schools
and other buildings

were set up
as temporary shelters.

Residents in some areas
were warned to evacuate

or face death from flooding
and other hazards.

Many heeded the warnings.

By Tuesday afternoon,

the normally crowded streets
and beaches of San Juan,

Puerto Rico’s capital,
were strangely empty,

as families raced
to move out of the area

in search of somewhere safe
to wait out the storm.

Many residents
in more remote locations

had been warned that after
the hurricane struck,

they would lose contact
with the island’s government

for three days.

Thousands of people
were being told

they would have to face
the impending disaster

on their own.

As the hurricane approached,
there had been concern

that reservoirs above the town
of Toa Baja would flood.

Dams had been built there
in 1974

to supply the area
of San Juan with water.

To prevent flooding,

the government began
emptying the reservoirs.

An evacuation order was issued
for the residents of Toa Baja

after Hurricane Maria
had already made landfall.

By then, Maria had brought
enough torrential rain

to overwhelm the dams.

Toa Baja was hit from the water
that spilled from the reservoir

and at the same time
flooded by the storm surge

on the coastal side.

Over 2000 people
were later rescued.

But many others were either
trapped inside their homes

or swept away in the current.

A press release was issued
by the Pentagon,

the central nervous system
for the United States military,

announcing that
500 National Guard members

would be dispatched
to Puerto Rico immediately.

Getting people, and equipment,

and all the wherewithal
that you need

from the mainland to an island

is always going to be
a challenge

unless you have those ships
and equipments ready to go.

At around 6:15 on the morning
of the 20th of September,

the center of the hurricane

crossed over
the municipality of Yabucoa,

delivering 250-kilometer-per-hour winds

and coastal flooding,

which had climbed
to 1.6 meters by 8 a.m.

It was so devastating,
because the eye wall,

that storm
literally traveled over

the island nation
of Puerto Rico.

It didn’t skirt to the north

or to the south,

it went right over
the island nation.

And so an eye wall
of that intensity, Category 4...

Well, we saw the end result,
how destructive it can be.

Torrential rain also brought

widespread flooding and
mudslides across the region.

Some areas were inundated with
close to one meter of rain.

Rivers overflowed in the
southern areas of the island,

causing floodwaters
to rush through nearby towns

and sweep away
everything in their path.

Winds were so strong
that they destroyed

the National Weather Service’s
sensors,

forcing meteorologists
to monitor the storm

entirely by satellite.

Thousands of islanders

fled the winds and rain,

looking for safety
in stronger buildings.

Nearly 600 residents
took refuge

in one of the biggest shelters
on the island,

the Roberto Clemente Coliseum
in San Juan.

When Maria hit,
one of the big problems

was that there were a lot
of pharmaceutical companies

that made their products,
their vaccines and their drugs,

in Puerto Rico,
in zones that were hit

very severely by the storm,

by the electrical damage,

and they couldn’t produce
those products.

So we had shortages of those
products throughout the region.

Maria destroyed 80 percent
of Puerto Rico’s utility poles,

as well as
all transmission lines,

resulting in power loss

on virtually
every part of the island.

Without electricity,
without our cellular phones,

without the ability to have
access to potable water

and our operating
sewer systems,

we’re going back to the 1800s.

Its people had been essentially
cut off from the outside world.

People were in desperate limbo.

Messages went unanswered

as hundreds of thousands
of families and friends

were unable to find out if
loved ones were alive or dead.

In San Juan, tree trunks
and electricity poles

snapped like matchsticks,
blocking most roads.

But it wasn’t simply just
the wind and rain

that caused such destruction.

It was the combined power of
storm surge and wave action

from the hurricane that
resulted in extensive damage

to homes and infrastructure.

It was devastating
for a variety of reasons

over the island of Puerto Rico,

and unfortunately the residents
are still recovering,

still rebuilding from
what Hurricane Maria was.

Marinas and harbors
right around the coast

were also severely damaged.

It was three days before
seaports could reopen,

allowing for the delivery
of essential supplies.

It seemed that just like
Hurricane Katrina

in New Orleans 12 years before,

the damage caused by the storm
was only the beginning

of an emerging
humanitarian crisis.

Relief was further hindered

when President Trump
invoked a law

stating that only
U.S.-registered ships

could transport goods
between American ports.

Since Puerto Rico
is a U.S. territory,

this meant that aid
coming from foreign countries

was barred from
reaching the island.

It took days for relief to get
through to Puerto Rico.

San Juan mayor,
Carmen Yulín Cruz,

blamed the federal government
and Puerto Rican officials

for failing to provide
adequate assistance.

The White House strenuously
defended its record,

insisting that
it was proud of the work

the federal government
had done

to assist their fellow citizens
in Puerto Rico.

FEMA, the Federal Emergency
Management Agency

responsible for coordinating
disaster relief,

was already being stretched
to its limits.

Historic storms Harvey and Irma
had already struck

both Texas and Florida
earlier that summer.

This resulted
in Puerto Rico suffering

the longest power outage
in American history.

Citizens were left
without running water

for several months.

Many were forced to rely
on a limited supply

of bottled water.

Without refrigeration,
food spoiled,

and vital medicines
were rendered useless.

It was estimated

that between 30 and 50 percent
of the people in Puerto Rico

were experiencing anxiety,
depression,

or post-traumatic
stress disorder.

A year after the storm struck,

their governor,
Ricardo Rosselló,

dramatically increased
the official death toll

from 64 to a shocking 2975.

Maria had claimed even more
lives than Hurricane Katrina.

It was the deadliest hurricane
to hit the United States

in more than 100 years,

with a death toll

that is nearly equal
to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The trauma of Hurricane Maria
is visible

on all parts of the island.

Many have left for good,
and it is estimated

that roughly 10 percent of
the population will follow suit

within the next several years.

With climate change issues,

extreme events increasing
across the planet,

the hazards
are always going to come.

The physical science,
the meteorology,

is getting
so much better.

So we are really
starting to look at

how we communicate
that information,

because if you think about it,

even a perfect forecast,

if it’s not understood,
not actionable,

then there’s
still something missing

from this whole equation.

Maria and Katrina taught us
many valuable lessons.

Ultimately, nature is simply
following its course.

Responsibility must rest
on societies and governments

to prevent
these unstoppable forces

from resulting in widespread
damage and catastrophe.

We must learn how
to better prepare ourselves

and more efficiently mobilize
relief aid

in the wake of a disaster.

So we have to focus not just on

the possibility
of something happening,

the intensity from
that particular event,

but also what
we can do about it.

You try and look
at all of these hazards--

We call it the all-hazards
response, right?

So that we train our people

to be ready to handle
any kind of emergency.

Is that really,
truly realistic?

Actually, not totally.

There is overlap
in things that you have to do,

regardless of
what the event is,

but there are also things

that are unique
to particular events.

Climate change, depending on it,
believer or not,

I can tell you right now,
water is getting warmer,

just north and just south
of the equator,

and it’s creating
greater storms.

But just like at any
other time in the future,

it may become cooler,

it may be an easier
impact of hurricanes,

but right now, these are scary
times to be around.

Any community, whether it be
in the United States

for a hurricane
or another hazard,

or any country in the world,

how are they addressing
that hazard

in terms of protecting
themselves?

So these things come into play,

and that determines how well

any community
is gonna be resilient.

The unimaginable hardships

endured by the people
of New Orleans and Puerto Rico

must never be repeated.

These deadly disasters prove

that unless we rise to meet

the challenges
posed by hurricanes,

Mother Nature will continue
to have the upper hand.