Original subtitles

♪♪

Narrator: Next on "doomsday, caught on camera"...

Man: Oh, my god! A man trapped in a violent twister,

Comes face to face with death.

A raging flood destroys everything in its path.

Man #2: Get out of the car!

She better get out of the car because she's going to get killed.

Man #3: Hold on. Narrator: What happens when the ground opens up...

Earthquake!

...And the earth shakes to its core?

Delgado: I have covered so many earthquakes,

But this one was a whopper.

Narrator: Waves of terror are unleashed on the cruise ship from hell.

The scariest moment for me was when that ship lifted,

I'm like, "this is falling apart.

I think the world is ending."

Narrator: And even more jaw-dropping weather phenomenon.

Woman: Dad! That will make you thank god it didn't happen to you.

♪♪

♪♪

Imagine vacationing on a luxury cruise,

Basking in the gorgeous views.

Relaxing on the deck, having the time of your life,

When suddenly, out of was nowhere,

The ship sails, right into...

A bomb cyclone.

Thousands of passengers are tossed around like toys.

The seas wage war from all sides.

The ship takes on water and panic turns to mayhem.

Could this voyage be your last?

January 2, 2018, the bahamas.

Passengers aboard the norwegian breakaway

Are enjoying some fun in the sun

On a week-long cruise that departed for new york city.

My name is ashli de reus. My brother and kevin de reus

Filmed all the footage for the cruise ship videos.

My family and I, we actually do this quite often.

We'll go on a cruise ship for the christmas holiday.

Our destination was to florida, the bahamas,

And then the last excursion was the norwegian private island,

Which is around the bahamas area.

Narrator: It's smooth sailing for the first few days,

But once they arrive at those private islands,

Something is amiss.

De reus: We were waiting in line to get off the ship

Because they were letting people off the boat

Onto little smaller boats to bring us to the island.

And they were like, we have to cancel the entire excursion

Because the waves were getting too strong

For the smaller boats to bring people off.

Oh, yeah, look at those waves.

At that point were just like

Pulling out our camera, filming it.

We did not expect what was coming.

Narrator: No one did.

And as the day wore on, things went from unnerving

To flat out terrifying.

De reus: Later in the evening was when we started

To see the bigger waves, and it wasn't until midnight

Was when we went through the bomb cyclone.

We didn't really know what was happening,

I guess it was the few people who had gotten internet

And were like, "we're going through a bomb cyclone."

We were like, what is a bomb cyclone?

That sounds terrifying.

Delgado: We're talking about an area of low pressure

Where the storm and the pressure drops more than 24 millibars

In a 24 hour period.

It strengthened so fast, it's basically

An area of low pressure on steroids.

And what that does is it creates a weather pattern

That is very destructive.

And it can be very deadly for any ships

Caught in the path of the bomb cyclone.

De reus: I noticed the ship rocking a lot more than usual

Because we were trying to get to our table in our heels

And we couldn't keep our balance.

And it was around dinnertime was when I noticed

The waves hitting our window.

We were like, we've never seen waves

Hit up to the sixth deck before.

Around midnight was when we went down the stairs

And we stepped in the water.

[bleep]

And we could just see a stream of water coming through.

Water coming out from the ceiling

And through the elevator shaft.

You could hear glass just shattering.

There was picture frames falling off the walls.

It was like nothing we've ever seen.

We were just like, "what is happening?"

At this point, you're thinking you're on the titanic.

It looked like the ship was sinking,

Like we were going under.

Martin: Well, in the old testament, the sea is a symbol of chaos.

And one of the reasons in the creation story

That god divides the waters is his control over chaos.

So you have this sense of great chaos and terror and drama.

De reus: All you could hear from if you went near the doors

Was that loud, high-pitched wind howling noise.

And I just remember being like, is this door going to break

Because of how strong the winds were?

Vagell: So with this bomb cyclone, it looks like winds

Are swirling at 50, 60, maybe even more miles per hour.

And in some cases in the most intense bomb cyclones,

It can be equivalent to a low-end hurricane.

Phoenix: And this ship is tilting.

We're talking close to 10 degrees.

At this point, anything that isn't tied down

Could become a lethal projectile.

And that had to be

Absolutely terrifying for the folks on board.

Narrator: The ship continues to fight

Its way back up the eastern seaboard,

With many passengers now in panic mode.

De reus: There was a lot of people just sitting and just waiting

And worried for their life. I did notice people praying.

I did notice people just sitting in silence.

I'll never forget, like I remember seeing a family

Sitting at the bottom of the staircase,

Like they had so much fear on their face.

They were so terrified.

The scariest moment for me was when that ship lifted

And you just felt that bang.

I'm like, "this is falling apart.

The world, is ending."

♪♪

In that moment. You do feel helpless.

So it did have that doomsday feeling,

Narrator: Ashli had no idea if the ship was going to survive.

We were actually terrified for our lives.

Narrator: And passengers wondered

If this would be their last night on earth.

De reus: The next day, I can see what damage was done,

You just see chairs, the pool chairs,

Like flipped over, almost like falling off the ship,

Railings outside were broken light fixtures were broken,

Signs were broken.

And to know that we went through like we survived that night,

I was like, "we're going to make it."

That was when I started to feel hope

That we were going to get to new york okay.

Man: [over p.A. System] we are calling our guests with green white and yellow...

De reus: And once the ship finally docked, we noticed that

That the entire side of the ship was covered in ice and snow.

We just felt like we were survivors of the storm.

Now it's like, "ah, we made it."

Narrator: Although ashli and her family survived the cruise from hell,

They were left badly shaken.

Woman: Proceed to our disembarkation line on deck number seven.

It was so rocky for like three days

That when we got off the ship,

I could still feel that rockiness.

Narrator: But one thing will never go away,

The dramatic memories of her near brush with death.

Going back to it, obviously,

It does bring back those memories of fear I felt

When I was in that moment.

But I feel so much better because I know I survived this.

[ wind howling ]

Oh, my god!

-Kris! -Coming up...

Mandy: It's coming toward us!

Narrator: A tornado hell-bent on destruction...

Man #4: Oh, my god!

-And... -Everything is burnt!

Narrator: Wildfires straight from dante's "inferno."

Girl: Dad!

♪♪

Narrator: Have you ever wondered what it would be like

To be trapped inside a tornado?

To be caught in its raw fury

And feel it's awesome power firsthand?

Winds crashing at nearly 200 miles an hour.

Debris flying past your head.

Kris: Leave that door so I can get in.

Leave that door so I can get in.

-And now you begin to wonder... -Oh, my god!

...If you become its next victim.

Holy [bleep]!

Help!

♪♪

November 17, 2013, in washington, illinois.

A tornado outbreak in the midwestern u.S. Is underway

And has invaded tazewell county.

From his backyard, kris lancaster records

An ominous twister in the distance.

My name is kris lancaster.

I was living in washington, illinois,

When an ef4 tornado come through.

I grabbed my phone, was outside talking to my neighbors,

And that's where the video started at.

Narrator: Kris's family all take shelter

In a concrete safe room in the basement,

While kris and his older son cherokee

Watch from their back patio in awe.

That's when the funnel cloud went from a small guy...

...And it just kept growing bigger and bigger and bigger.

And it just kept coming to me and coming to me.

There's only one thing you can do with one of these tornadoes,

And that is hide.

Some of these can move as fast as 70 miles per hour,

And that's not enough time to get out of the way.

You got to get out of dodge.

Narrator: Cherokee is ready to run now and takes refuge inside

With the rest of the family.

But his father refuses to leave just yet.

It's the most bizarre thing I've ever seen in my life,

But also the most scariest thing I've ever been in in my life.

I think as it hit the people's close to me

That when I was like, "well, I better get to the basement.

Felt like it was the end of the world.

It sounded like a freight train.

Just like an amtrak horn.

I was pretty windy.

[ metal crashes ]

Vagell: For an ef4 tornado, we have winds between

166 and 200 miles per hour.

This tornado had winds up to 190 miles per hour.

So in this case, he's trying to get in the shelter,

But it's hard to get there because it's almost like

You're being side swept from the back.

Kris: There was so much debris, insulation,

Wood, you name it, flying through the air.

I don't know what part of it I was in or not.

Narrator: Kris is in the eye of the storm.

And as he battles for survival, suddenly someone rescues him.

It's his son, cherokee!

Well, I go down the stairs and cherokee just

Grabs my arm and pulls me around the corner

To the concrete safe room.

I really don't know, but it was just something tremendous

That could have been the last chance.

There was no power.

Being in a pitch-dark room where, couldn't see nothing.

Narrator: Kris has been hit in the head

By flying debris, but thankfully, he's okay.

The big question is, why did he wait so long to take cover?

Kris: Truthfully, the reason I stayed out there so long,

I was mesmerized by it and it just kept me there.

I was caught in the moment like, holy cow,

Look at all that debris flying.

Wow. There goes a car. Wow. There goes that house.

Cano: Tornadoes are mysterious, dangerous occurrences.

We look at them with wonder,

We look at them with the appropriate amount of fear.

[ screams ]

The logical thing would be to run to safety,

But he seemed to be locked in place.

Aten: What we saw with kris here, I almost wonder

If to some extent it kind of felt surreal,

Like, this isn't really happening to him.

But rather something that he's observing,

Even a sense of awe,

And kind of amazement of why he was actually witnessing.

Delgado: It's kind of hard to pull yourself away,

But you can hear his wife say,

"hello, kris, it's time to get down here."

She was doing the right thing. She was in the basement.

Narrator: Miraculously, the disaster spared kris and his family.

The house was not so lucky.

All the stuff we purchased when we moved there

And just, everything was gone.

When you look out in the things that you've worked so hard

For in your life

Suddenly seem to be gone and looks like a bomb went off.

How do we find our way forward in something like that?

Narrator: Kris and his family left washington and started over.

Though, he's well aware he cheated death by mere seconds.

Multiple times I saw my life flash before my eyes,

I thought I would be in heaven with my grandparents

Or my dad or I my kids be without a father.

But he's left me here one more time, for some reason.

I'm here on god's time, I'm not here on my time.

Pinn: I think people who survive natural disasters,

The inclination is to recognize what really matters

In terms of still having life, still having family and friends

And that home that car or that technology can be replaced.

Martin: It's just gratitude.

And you're grateful that you're alive

And it just highlights your gratitude

For the gift of life.

Today I would do things a lot different and take shelter.

Mother nature is no joke to mess with.

She's a hell of a monster. [ laughs ]

I just recommend anybody nowadays to take cover

And don't do what I did.

Fortunately, I'm still here today to talk about this,

And I still have all my kids and my life is beautiful.

[ crashing ]

Narrator: Coming up...

Raging floods battle through a small town.

-Get outta the car! -Get outta the [bleep] car!

Narrator: And the earth quakes with fury.

Will anyone survive?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: A flash flood is one of the deadliest climate hazards

Mother nature keeps in her arsenal of doom.

And when she unleashes it, you better pray

You're on high ground and out of harm's way.

-Get outta the car! -Get outta the [bleep] car!

Narrator: But what if you found yourself in the middle of a raging flood?

I can't reach. You gotta get out!

Be prepared, to fight for your life.

♪♪

July 30, 2016, ellicott city, maryland.

As a summer day winds down in this quaint river town,

Heavy rains begin to fall.

It was pounding down rain, I walk out onto my porch

And looked across at a fellow business owner

And we were looking at each other like,

"wow, we've never seen it rain like this."

By dusk, code red.

A severe flash flood.

Main street is now a raging river.

And a local shop owner, david dempster,

Is about to make a terrifying discovery.

I walked out to the front of the street

And started filming the cars that were coming.

And one of the cars was a black vw bug.

And there was a screaming woman inside.

Narrator: That woman's name is jamie knight.

Dempster: And jason barnes, my next door neighbor from all time toys,

He got out there and this woman didn't want to

To get out of the car.

And jason went down, boom, out of the frame.

I thought he was a goner.

♪♪

I am the guy who went out into the water

To try to help the lady in the volkswagen bug.

I could actually see there was a woman

In the driver's seat looking frantic

And just empty out what little was in my pockets, and...

♪♪

If you look at the bottom corner of the video,

You'll see a trash can fly by.

That's what made me lose my footing

Because that thing was just flying down the hill.

I mean, this water is going fast.

It's moving at maybe 25, 30 miles an hour.

It's a steep hill.

This is so incredibly dangerous, not just for jamie,

But also jason.

Flash flooding is the number one weather-related killer.

We're talking more than tornadoes,

Avalanches, hurricanes, combined.

Flash flooding, it is deadly.

I ended up going down the hill probably about 50 to 75 feet,

Probably only was 5-10 seconds I was gone

But felt like an eternity.

The water was over my head and it was brown murkiness

And one of my shoes shot right off my foot and like,

Okay, where does this ride end?

Narrator: But can jason get back to jamie before her car gets swept away?

Miraculously he does.

Dempster: We all formed a human chain

And I didn't even think about it,

I just kept the camera rolling.

I didn't know it was going to work,

But I felt like I had a chance.

I remember her saying,

I can't swim and I can't touch the ground.

I think the shock of the situation had the best of her.

Dempster: I was thinking that, "she better get out of the car,

'cause that car's going to wash down main street

And she's going to get killed.

Delgado: I can't imagine what was going through jamie's mind,

You know, actually I can, absolute terror.

She's trapped in a car where the water is rising rapidly

And she had to make a life or death decision

Because she knew if she stayed in that car,

She was likely going to drown.

Barnes: Once I got to the car,

I decided to help her get out of the car.

Fortunately, she was extremely light.

She was able to grab johnny's hands

And that's when he was able to grab her.

And we just all kind of shot in all at once.

♪♪

Delgado: Unfortunately for her,

A car is the absolute last place you want to be

When a flood hits.

You need to get out of your vehicle and up to high ground.

Because just a very, very small amount of floodwater

Is strong enough to pick up and move

An entire vehicle downstream.

Narrator: Within a few hours, the flood tapers off.

That's when the water started to recede

And the full scope of the damage really sunk in.

The water was going through these buildings

And you're like, "oh, this is huge."

It wasn't until I got home about 2:00 in the morning

That I could start feeling the wounds and everything.

And the next day was very difficult to walk.

He could have easily been killed.

And to really risk your life for complete stranger?

Hero, a flat out.

Barnes: I never felt comfortable with the term "hero"

Because it's nice to get appreciation,

But you don't do something like that

For the appreciation.

Life is life and if you can help someone continue living

You only get one go around.

♪♪

Narrator: Coming up... Macdonell: Everything is burnt!

Welcome to hell on earth.

Dad!

The panic.

One of the most destructive plagues in history

Is back for revenge.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: Fire -- a chemical reaction

That is as mysterious as it is deadly.

But when it's surrounding you, at night,

It's hell on earth.

Woman: Dad! And if vicious wildfires

Threaten to incinerate your home...

Macdonell: What can I do?

You'll be faced with two options --

Oh, no! Escape the firestorm...

Everything is burnt. ...Or die trying.

[ yells ]

♪♪

December 30, 2019, australia.

Since July, record-shattering temperatures

Combined with a severe drought and strong winds

Have sparked massive bushfires along the southeast coast

Of the continent.

But in the small town of gongura,

The macdonell family is praying the fires

Will somehow pass them by.

[ australian accent ] so we were just kind of feeling calm, like, you know,

The fire actually isn't as bad as what they're saying.

But we knew the fire had been coming closer

And we've been checking the wind patterns online ourselves.

We knew that it was blowing towards us.

On the 30th December,

That was the day that we had been warned about.

Wow. So waking up, I sort of had an expectation

That we were likely to see fire that day.

By the afternoon, the sky was completely orange.

In no time at all, the wind had blown it all around

And just the whole mountain was on fire.

Narrator: Which means those scorching flames

Are headed directly for the macdonell residence.

While the rest of the family has already evacuated,

19-year-old india and her father, sean,

Attempt the unthinkable.

To defend their house by fighting the bush fires

Themselves.

It was an easy decision for me

Because I had my dad there keeping me calm.

We have a fire bunker

And we just had the right amount of gear

To feel as though we'd be safe.

Delgado: It's amazing that she was able to do this,

But I can't stress enough, do not try this yourself.

Battling a fire is super dangerous.

These fires, they come fast and they come furious

And they have a mind of their own.

And the next thing you know,

You're trapped with nowhere to go.

Narrator: But india is comforted, because her father has been

A volunteer firefighter for the past 20 years.

Macdonell: So we had face masks, gloves, [indistinct].

We also had goggles to protect our eyes from the smoke.

We had fire hoses.

And that was my source of water for the front of the house.

Narrator: But will that be enough?

Macdonell: By evening, the firestorm is upon them.

As it got closer, it just made the sky go pitch-black

Like it was midnight, and it was only 6:00 in the evening.

The whole mountain was on fire.

It was pretty much surrounding us.

We did our best to keep the house wet,

So that no embers were able to ignite.

♪♪

The wind at the beginning was really, really strong.

Oh! [ gasps ]

And it almost felt like it was blowing in every direction

Because the embers were just going absolutely everywhere.

It was like a massive ember attack.

If you had to paint a picture of h-e-l-l,

This is what it would look like.

You don't see anything else other than

The orange and yellow glow

And the flames just kind of dancing around.

It really feels like the world is ending

Because you don't see anything but just flames.

The smoke was extremely thick and just it was really hard

Because you have to run around in it and breathe it in,

And then I wasn't sure how much smoke it would take

To make someone pass out.

Narrator: The relentless flames threaten to engulf the house.

No, no, no, no, no!

And before long, the sheds behind india's home

Are now ablaze.

Delgado: I can't imagine what this girl, india,

Must have been feeling. I can tell you

What the temperature might have been like.

We're talking anywhere from about

1,400-1500 degrees fahrenheit.

Now, you add in the smoke inhalation

Just burning your lungs.

Can you imagine trying to save your home

When you're essentially in an oven, times 10?

Narrator: For several hours, father and daughter

Battle the insurmountable odds.

[ coughs ] how will they both survive?

Ah, no!

♪♪

It's now morning.

India and her father have been battling the blaze

Through their darkest night.

But they are alive.

And their house is still standing.

Okay, it's 7:20, we saved our house.

Macdonell: Having that house being built by my dad,

It's quite a special place.

And that was the only thing that we were trying to save.

Martin: I found that very, very inspiring.

For her to have the presence of mind to defend her house,

Turn the water in the fire, really live through hell.

And to film it was pretty amazing.

[ british accent ] how is a woman showing such strength

In the face of something so incredibly frightening?

It's a really beautiful picture of how powerful

A human being can be.

Narrator: But their achievement is bittersweet as india

And her father soon observe the mass destruction around them.

Macdonell: Our town after the fire,

Just looked like a post-apocalyptic town.

It was burnt so incredibly badly.

It's really hard to explain that feeling.

But it was intense.

Narrator: Would india do it again?

Yes, but only if her father was by her side.

Macdonell: Surviving that I just felt empowered,

But I wouldn't have stayed

If I didn't have my dad there, who was experienced.

It's probably going to be one of the things I'm most proudest of.

But that was definitely the most terrifying night in my life.

Macdonell: Dad!

Narrator: Coming up...

The earth opens up and wreaks doomsday-level destruction.

[ clattering ]

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: Earthquake.

Just the word conjures up images of chaos.

[ screaming ]

Violent tremors,

Collapsed buildings,

People running for their lives with no escape.

An earthquake can also trigger other natural disasters,

Like tsunamis and landslides, which lead to more destruction.

And the only thing more terrifying than all that...

Is when it happens to you.

♪♪

November 30, 2018. Anchorage, alaska.

It's 8:29 a.M. Local time, and before the sun rises,

People across the city are just starting their day --

For work, for school, just a regular

Friday morning in alaska.

In the rogers park neighborhood, jennifer and tony skilja

And their 4-year-old daughter, sophia,

Are in the middle of their usual routine.

I was doing my makeup, getting ready for the day

In our bathroom upstairs.

And tony and sophia were downstairs

At our dining table, I think coloring?

Yeah, we were coloring.

I think we were doing like arts and crafts and drawings.

And then suddenly the tremors began.

Caught on their home security cameras,

You can see tony immediately

Pick up sophia and race out the front door.

♪♪

Jennifer is right behind them as she rushes downstairs

And outside to reunite with her family.

♪♪

There is like a sixth sense, I want to say,

Or a combination of senses that makes you move really fast.

Jennifer: Aah!

I realized the entire ground was shaking.

I was just like, "I got to get out of here."

Aah!

I could hear her screaming.

It felt like the stairs were going to cave in.

And there's a big chandelier above our stairs.

I thought it was going to fall on my head.

The earthquake is frightening because there's no way

To prepare psychologically for it.

It is terrifying.

When the earthquake hit,

It feels like the world is ending.

There's no other way to describe it.

All I remember is being so scared.

Narrator: And they had every reason to be.

Because the earthquake they just experienced was a massive one.

Measuring 7.0 on the richter scale.

Man: Earthquake! Earthquake!

Delgado: I have covered so many earthquakes

And we're talking strong ones, but this one was a whopper.

♪♪

Narrator: While the skilja family was terrified by the shaking ground,

The sound of the earthquake

Was something they will never forget.

I had no idea that earthquakes could be so loud.

Honestly, it sounds like then the washer's stuck on

That shaking spin cycle,

And it's like a megaphone of that.

So earthquakes happen very quickly,

But at the beginning, of an earthquake

You may hear that low-pitched like a rumbling or a grumbling.

Abbott: Those first seismic waves,

We call them the p waves, they are actually sound waves.

So what you're literally hearing the seismic waves

Come out of the earth and propagate through the air.

Narrator: Those sound waves are what first alerted tony

To spring into action.

Delgado: But the dad instincts were great.

He grabbed the child.

But the problem is he went outside.

That's the wrong thing to do.

Man: Oh, get in the doorway!

The main thing we suggest is drop, cover, and hold on.

Dive under something like a heavy dining room table

Or in the office, dive underneath a desk.

Hold on to the legs of it.

Man: Hold on.

We've got a lot of criticism for going outside,

It not being the safest thing, but we felt like

There's more stuff in the house that can fall on you,

Whereas outside it's a little bit more open space.

When the house is shaking,

No matter what anyone says, you do want to

Stay in the house, it just does not feel right.

It just feels like it's going to come down on you.

Delgado: Imagine being a parent, you've got a little child here

And you're thinking, "what do I do?"

I was thinking about getting to my daughter.

Our daughter was first.

Right when we were all together outside,

You could still see the house shaking.

It felt like forever.

I was just like, when is this going to end?

Because I've never experienced anything like it.

Narrator: After standing barefoot in the freezing cold for 45 minutes,

The skiljas venture back inside to assess the damage.

I couldn't believe how much stuff had fallen.

We lost all of our dishes, glasses,

A lot of the stuff hanging on the walls.

But the terror was far from over.

Within just four days of the initial quake,

An astounding 170 aftershocks

Of varying strength occurred in the region,

Including a 5.7 shake just minutes after that first jolt.

The aftershocks were insane.

They just kept going at it for days and weeks.

And then tsunami warnings,

'cause we're right on the ocean kept flooding up.

Just tsunami warning, tsunami warning.

And you don't know if one was going to come.

You wonder if something bigger is happening,

If that makes any sense?

Is there a bigger natural disaster that's going to happen?

Is the world ending?

Thankfully, the tsunami never happened,

But the damage to some of anchorage's infrastructure

Was undeniable.

And while the skilja family was unharmed,

The quake of 2018 still haunts them to this day.

I still have anxiety about it,

Because you never know when the next one is going to come.

I definitely felt like it was doomsday for us.

I mean, that was the craziest thing we've ever experienced.

So for sure, we, we felt like that was it,

That was the end.

Jennifer: Aah!

♪♪

Narrator: Coming up, a swarming, devastating plague...

Of biblical proportions.

♪♪

Narrator: Ancient stories in the book of exodus

Recount the 10 plagues

God threatened to inflict on egypt's pharaoh.

They were repulsive, violent, dangerous.

And symbolized the end of days. [ thunder crashes ]

Among them a bug-like creature with the power of a scorpion,

Who with its lion like teeth

Could devour anything in its path.

The eighth plague, better known as locusts.

Is this a sign of the end of the world?

♪♪

February 20, 2020, khobar, saudi arabia.

In the middle east, which conjures images

Of deserts, dunes, and sand, but there do exist

Fertile valleys of plenty filled with luscious crops,

Crops that are under siege because millions,

If not billions of locusts

Are wreaking havoc and destruction everywhere.

Meanwhile, on a highway near khobar,

At approximately 4:30 in the afternoon.

This car heads into a massive swarm of them,

Without even realizing it.

Delgado: You're driving along and you're looking up and you're thinking,

"oh, wow, there's a sandstorm,"

But then you get a little closer, and then you're like,

"this isn't a sandstorm. It's an invasion!"

Martin: There's something more disgusting

About it being insects.

I think there's something in our human mind that recoils

At the idea of millions of bugs crawling over your body

Or crawling over your car.

Delgado: You're thinking, "is the world coming to an end?"

I mean, come on, this is biblical.

In the bible, locusts are spoken of as this kind of

Swarm of destruction

That comes through and eats the massive crop.

In the book of exodus, locusts served

As a sign of punishment.

In the book of revelation,

Locusts constitute one of the plagues

That will be visited upon the world

As a sign of the end times.

But for those who continued reading exodus 10.14

Says, "never before has there been a plague

Of locusts like this and there shall never be again."

But seeing it and being in the middle of it

Is definitely scary for sure.

Narrator: The sky and the highway are dominated

By the hovering locusts, and it seems there's no escape.

Sometimes when something seems out of place,

It can be hard for our minds to wrap around

And to know what we're actually experiencing.

Delgado: You know, we've seen events like this

Happen where we see these locusts invading an area.

A couple of years ago, we saw this in las vegas.

This invasion was so big, it actually showed up on radar.

Interestingly enough, we have learned in recent years

That there is no leader in a swarm.

We get similar swarms in some species of fish.

And you also see the swarming birds.

But those locusts, it is amazing that they can move so fast

And through such intricate patterns

Without bumping into each other.

Narrator: The group may be safe from the swarm,

But the devastation these locusts can inflict

Cannot be underestimated.

In a matter of minutes,

Locusts can eat through acres and acres of crops,

Wreaking havoc on the world's food supply.

Phoenix: These locusts have the ability to utterly devastate

People's way of life

Because they destroy everything that they can possibly eat

When they swarm through an area.

So it is a doomsday event.

It's history reappearing before our very eyes today.

Narrator: And thanks to mother nature, there's a strong chance

This won't be the last time these insects come out to play.

Phoenix: Increases in global temperatures

Lead to increases in extreme weather.

So after we have these severely increased rainfalls,

We see the locust swarms intensifying,

Breeding pretty much out of control.

So this shows us that the effects of climate change

Are going to have broad-reaching impacts.

Martin: It's this sort of perversion of nature,

It's like nature turning against you

And I think the last part of nature

That I would want turn against me are bugs.

So it's doomsday.

What would you do if you were...

Caught in a bomb cyclone in the storm of the century...

Man: Oh, my god.

...Faced with the wrath of a tornado...

Kris: Leave that door so I can get in!

...Trapped in deadly raging waters?

Woman: Get out of the [bleep] car!

Or the fires from hell?

Macdonell: Dad!

Just hope and pray, you live to tell about it.

Kris: Oh, my god!

♪♪

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