Wrath of God: Disasters In America

Relive Alaska's devastating earthquake which shook the Earth at an awesome magnitude 9.2 and was felt thousands of miles away.

This film discusses the flood of April 1927, known as the greatest flood in American history. After days of torrential rain, the Mississippi River broke through a levee flooding land from Oklahoma to West Virginia and Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico. In Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana, 14 million acres were flooded. Five hundred people died and 70,000 men, women, and children were forced to live in refugee camps.

The mountains called the Sierra Nevada are among the most picturesque in the U.S.--tourists marvel at the snow-capped peaks while skiing at Lake Tahoe. But the Snowy Mountains have also produced disasters, including the 1846 Donner Party tragedy that led to cannibalism and the 1982 avalanche that buried Anna Conrad alive for five days.

Located in the most dangerous part of the Pacific Ocean’s infamous “Ring of Fire”, Chile is hit by more earthquakes than any other place in the world. But nothing would prepare Chileans for the quake that struck on May 22, 1960–it measured 9.5 on the Richter Scale and triggered tsunamis and volcanic activity. 7,000 would die!

In December 1944, Admiral "Bull" Halsey's Third Fleet was confronted by a killer typhoon in the South Pacific. Despite the courage of the "tin can" sailors battling 100-mile-an-hour winds and torrential rain, three destroyers capsized. Unbelievably, six months later, the Fleet encountered another typhoon. We investigate these intrepid forces of nature that nearly sunk Halsey's career when an official court of inquiry recommended that he be relieved of his duties.

Every June 8, the sky roils and curdles in the minds of those who found themselves the unlucky residents of Topeka when the infamous F-5 Topeka Tornado descended, rending lives apart and changing the city’s future irrevocably.

The flood of 1953 was the greatest natural disaster to occur in the Netherlands in the 20th century. The combination of a heavy north-westerly storm and a spring tide caused flooding in large parts of the country. The disaster claimed the lives of 1,836 people and tens of thousands of animals, and many homes were destroyed.

On Friday, January 28, 1977, snowbound Buffalo was hit with a six-day blizzard that left up to 40 inches of snow in some places. The city was paralyzed, trapping motorists and making it impossible for firefighters and rescue crews to get through. Twenty-nine people died and 300 million dollars in damage was caused in the process. As the city was under siege, its residents banded together to help those in need endure the harsh winter conditions.

Rising 4,000 feet above Italy's Campania region, Mount Vesuvius is one of the world's most active volcanoes, unleashing its lethal fire time and again. We examine the 79 A.D. eruption that destroyed the city of Pompeii, sealing the volcano's place in history; a 1631 eruption, at the height of the Black Plague, when the fiery mountain killed around 18,000; and a 1944 eruption that killed 26 as WWII raged across Southern Italy. Is Vesuvius in a resting period or gearing up for another explosion.

In this episode of the History Channel series Wrath of God, which explores different natural disasters through the ages, there is a look at flash flooding in numerous disasters in the US and around the world

In this episode of the History Channel series Wrath of God, which explores different natural disasters through the ages, there is a look at some of the most destructive and deadly hurricanes ever. First, there is a look at the hurricane that rocked Miami in 1926, followed by the storm that damaged much of the New England area in 1938. Later in the 20th century, Hurricane Andrew destroyed the town of Homestead, FL, and much of Miami when it came ashore in 1992. Many other hurricanes that have hit the United States in the past have been even more forceful and potentially destructive, but have caused little damage. Experts talk about why some hurricanes do more damage than others.