Hurricane Dorian (Full Episode) | Gathering Storm

[Music] the storm of the century is closing in it's happening we are proceeding inbound to dorian more intense than any atlantic storm ever recorded holy that part of the wall is gone this is hurricane dorian as storms hit new extremes and defy prediction national geographic gave cameras to more than a thousand marine workers to film wherever storms might strike right around the globe on a scale never seen before this is what came back from our cameras caught in the path of hurricane dorian the fiercest atlantic hurricane in history [Music] just your standard vhf radio and this is the marine forecast this is the main thing we listen to when we're out it's deep into hurricane season ron yao is starting out on a regular 10-day trip on his shrimp boat sea king taking with him one of our cameras we are shrimping offshore of saint augustine beach and this is what it's looking like outside right now which isn't so bad out in the atlantic a buildup of storm clouds watched by weather satellites has begun to grow as its winds hit 40 miles per hour it's classed as a tropical storm and is given a name dorian we're just going to keep an eye on it and hope for the best that's what we're doing we're not waiting we got to go fishing boats ready we're fueled up everything's green light for goat sea king is one of hundreds of vessels now off florida's atlantic coast that have taken our cameras to sea as they keep watch on the new storm you see that's the topical storm dorian you can see that the wind has changed one of them is container ship summers isles it's predicted to be coming quite bad in the coming days tropical storm dorian is now bearing down on barbados where another camera is rolling on board the tug pelican ii [Music] all right the weather is deteriorating already this is a bit more choppy than usual instead of coming from an easterly direction which is from that direction the wind is now coming from southeasterly direction welcome to sunny barbados for a tropical storm to develop into a hurricane a warm ocean is vital when temperatures top 79 degrees conditions are ripe by late summer the sun's effect is at its peak and this year from florida to the caribbean the sea temperature is hitting a record high the water's 83 and i'm sure by the bahamas it's in the mid to upper 80s there's plenty of you know warm water that's what sets it off for now the gasoline for storm as dorian draws energy from the superheated ocean its threat level is rising we just wish that it don't come here two years ago when we got hurricane irma we lost about half of our lobster gear and now with dorian coming as big as it is you know we probably lose 100 if we had a direct hit all right south florida we are tracking what is now hurricane dorian hitting full hurricane strength with 75 mile per hour winds dorian crashes into the u.s virgin islands within hours wind speeds hit a new high of 85 miles per hour dorian is growing stronger and bearing down on florida at 300 miles a day all right we're the only game in town today so we're the recco mission heading out to hurricane dorian in florida flight noah 4-2 is moments from takeoff blindside i'm ready this is america's primary asset in forecasting how a storm will behave the p3 hurricane hunter an airborne weather station that flies right into the storm taking with it one of our cameras we march into the storm and we directly measure things that can't be measured any other way 242 on departure turn left heading 180 runway 2-7 cliff take off their mission is to fly through the eye to pinpoint dorian's exact center and gather data essential for forecast accuracy radio sensors dropped from the plane called sondes are the only way to get vital readings from inside a storm good course good speed after three hours airborne the target is in sight so is that dorian out there at 10 o'clock that it would be [Music] about 10 more miles we'll get stood up on the line [Music] and we're going to try to find the eye of the storm inside 30 seconds roger 30. see about what's coming up [Applause] 10 seconds the wind speeds start to come up we get bumped around a fair bit and then you start to hit the eye wall here we go here we go which is essentially this wall of precipitation the eye wall is where a hurricane's winds are at their most powerful one of the motors is right out my window and the rain is so intense that i can't see the motor and it's not a meter out my window it's phenomenal the rain impacts the propeller with so much force it pits the metal once we're inside of the eye wall we actually follow the winds and when they get to zero knots that is the center yep we're going into it now [Music] the most critical thing of every mission is fixing the center center and the turbulence when we do we drop the sun release on zonda's away [Music] [Applause] steady on zero four five and every successive drop recorded lower pressure three two one which clearly highlighted to us that dorian was intensifying really son the flight's data is beamed straight to the national hurricane center where the new information confirms that the threat from dorian is escalating and we're forecasting dorian to go on and become a major hurricane now within the next 24 hours that's category three four five on the safra simpson hurricane wind scale at category four a hurricane's potential for destruction is 200 times greater than at category 1. and as it advances across the ocean the prospect of dorian making landfall looks ever more certain talking about the life-threatening storm surge and winds in the northwestern bahamas the potential for devastating winds and storm surge along the florida east coast a potentially catastrophic hurricane event in portions of the bahamas in florida all right let me put this on video off florida's east coast fishermen are on guard for any change in the weather they're among hundreds of marine workers using our cameras to capture tropical storms whenever and wherever they appear we got hurricane dorian coming this way be here saturday night [Music] in the atlantic the biggest storm for decades is building fast rapid intensification sees dorian leap in less than 24 hours from a category 2 hurricane to category 4. directly in its path the island of great abaco in the northwest bahamas and beyond that florida and the port of miami the busiest cruise ship terminal in the world and a vital hub for freight okay good morning everyone this is captain bertian thanks for uh for joining us here on the phone responsibility for the port's safety rests with the u.s coast guard under sector miami's commander captain joanne birdian just took a look at the 1100 update for hurricane dorian and it looks like uh anticipating the first arrival of storm force winds sometime overnight saturday late saturday early sunday morning a hurricane strike on a port can be catastrophic doing damage valued at billions of dollars the ultimate precaution is to evacuate the port and shut it down we talk a lot about port closure but it's a balancing act to preserve the safety of the men and women who live and work here with efficient maritime commerce one day's closure has an impact on florida's economy of over 100 million dollars my position here as the cap of the port and as the sector commander is that safety is paramount captain the port has ordered port condition x-ray be set at noon today all ocean-going commercial vessels greater than 500 growth tons must prepare to depart the ports and anchorages port condition x-ray is the trigger all right thank you let's roll for evacuation all right guys let's go to see leading to complete closure of the port all ships will head to sea to escape the storm while there's still time as dorian's threat increases the decision to close port miami is followed by ports further north in port canaveral all boats are ordered to leave all right port's making us get out we got a cat floor coming breathing down our necks one of our cameras is with fisherman matt beedle captain with commercial fishing fleet wild ocean i mean the wild ocean fleet tinny sue mislin myself going into what they call a barge canal they used to use it to haul coal and everything to the power plant up in titusville i don't try and get tied up and hunker down while large ships must head out to sea smaller boats can seek shelter inland but some can be reluctant to quit while they could still be fishing we've got other boats in the port that are supposed to be going with us and they play the game of oh we're not going yet and if they can't get out of the port the port finds him 30 thousand dollars a day plus if you leave your boat up here if it breaks loose and does any damage to anything or any other boats you are responsible and you are going to pay out your butt herb i guess i'll just go in front of you the wild ocean fleet will meet to tie up at a mooring they've used in previous storms this is the most boats i've seen up here ever for a storm i ain't never seen boats up here like this before all these people have got their boats on the south side that is the worst place you want to be on the problem with it is it's going to be north and east winds it's going to be at the back of their boats not at the bow of the boats it's going to spin those sumbitches around and put more stress on their lines than anything sean i'm gonna pass you on your port side and turn around put my nose into the wind on the north shore the boats are lashed together throwing that for increased stability throw that line tighten the bow line it's probably already on the beach now you're on the beach category 4 hurricane dorian is now entering an ominous new phase seen from space it's like a monster waking as dorian opens its eyes a circular clearing at its center is a sign of a well-established storm with the strength to go on growing in the next 24 hours hurricane dorian will make history in a way no one could have anticipated september 1st 2019. prepping for the hurricane highest ground in hatteras is inside of a truck don't put a money it's put like 6 56. ain't nothing happening now it's just that win some rain nothing too crazy yet is really good right now shrimp are very plentiful shame the storm's coming on our part 8 a.m dorian is flexing its muscles winds have been bumped up to 160 miles per hour hurricane hunters flew through there and found some stronger winds some lower pressure as well so they upgraded it bearing down on the island of great abaco dorian's power intensifies in three mighty steps with the eye five miles from the island its winds leap to 185 miles per hour 185 mile per hour winds we could see gusts up to 220 miles per hour we've never seen that before so this is a historical event that is unfolding right before our eyes in the hours before impact dorian has intensified at a rate never observed before in a storm so strong the ocean's already huge here and the storm's so far away praying for those people in the bahamas [Music] okay john is now 11 52. like doing just picked up on like a lot a lot a lot and it started to scare me now just before noon sunday september 1st dorian slams into the island of great abaco to become the most powerful hurricane ever to hit the bahamas [Music] it's uh 12 o'clock and stuff's definitely starting to come apart all the coconut trees have snapped off dorian's extreme winds gust to a strength only experienced inside a tornado the intense pounding is prolonged by dorian's slow speed of travel across the island look at that open ocean coming across from the parking lot the street to the marina dorian's winds have pushed a 20-foot wall of water on shore we're standing right here the apartment building as we stay in though the whole roof came off please pray for us please pray for us everyone please pray for us by mid-afternoon the eye is here dorian's eye is now over the town of marsh harbor an opening in the clouds 17 miles wide but dorian's assault on the northwest bahamas is just getting started good afternoon admiral joe birdian um we're commencing our 24-hour imt in anticipation of tropical storm force winds arriving within the aor overnight tonight so i have plenty of questions thanks joe in miami coast guard hq captain birdian's incident management team is briefing all units in the sector do we have anyone from the bahamas online okay here we go here we go go we are proceeding and bound to dorian the hurricane hunter noah 4-2 is on its 12th mission into the eye of dorian dorian you've changed that's such a different story dorian's eye has opened wide there's a grand bahamas sized hole in this wall a stadium of cloud now 23 miles across it's ugly three two one release my points on your science equipment is go what they discover is a hammer blow as dorian reaches the island of grand bahama a very unfortunate place to stall its westward movement has stopped [Music] the most powerful atlantic hurricane to make land fall has stalled over northwest bahamas most populated island if storm moving at a normal speed at that intensity is going to be devastating to have a storm basically sit over the same general area is about the worst type of scenario you could imagine for those areas in terms of the impacts [Music] this is what's left of the resort and there's some of the boats that were in the marina for 36 hours dorian has subjected the bahamas to the most prolonged and powerful battering of a populated place ever recorded it's difficult to fly over these these areas and look down at the devastation to see the the level of violence that these storms can exert on the surface of the earth and suffering that the the people that are on the ground but we got to get over it because our focus is the current observation and how that translates into protecting people in the coming days for this particular storm it's a challenge it's a challenge at this point in time we're forecasting dorian to move north northwestward moving just offshore of the florida east coast all the way up to north carolina so the impacts are going to be over a very large area now as soon as you get it to him thing get it on there and get that tied off and get that bow line dorian is now heading for the east coast of the u.s in mayport sea king's captain ron is alive to the growing danger well with the storm coming the wind's going to be out hard at the north the northeast i'm wanting to get my bow headed up into it storms are very unpredictable i'm not endangering anyone for money it's not worth it to me it's just crazy out here man it's on the fishing boat gooch off north carolina the spreading anxiety is captured on camera lightning coming this way y'all wanted a documentary you're getting it as real as it did it's it's do or die now we're cleaning all of our product and freezing it so we don't lose it hatteras on the outer banks of north carolina is on a countdown to collision with dorian at jeffrey's seafood brothers taylor and kelsey aiken handle distribution for a number of fishing boats on the island trying to get all of our fish out of here they'll be paid for it and we'll make money on it so at least we'll be able to get something out of this ahead of the storm anyway a mandatory evacuation comes into effect later today they need to get as much of their fish as they can on the last truck out we were able to get all of our fresh products out on the truck but we had twenty thousand dollars worth of product in our freezer that we had to you know hold on to the risk now is storm surge and with it power outage and flooding the freezer is just a few feet above the ocean if it blows 35 40 50 miles an hour out of the northwest all that water from across the sound will come here and it'll flood that's what happened the previous years when matthew came this right here that's how high it was in here in hurricane matthew it's a five foot of water in here you know well that was insane i've never ever seen it that high that's the latest satellite image of hurricane dorian by 8 tomorrow it'll be in north carolina and by 8 a.m friday morning it'll be on top of us yeah i don't know it doesn't look very good be honest with you further north in the port of wilmington cargo vessel ice ranger is due to leave for florida with dorian in their path and coming this way they've made a bold plan to skirt around the storm leaving port ahead of dorian's arrival they'll pass within 80 nautical miles of the eye on their course for port canaveral florida taking command for the two-day voyage ukrainian captain zakar zemlyakov i am very proud of it i was promoted just five days ago the old responsibility now on my shoulders yeah a little bit scared but i have to experience crew passing this close to dorian's eye zakhar expects to face large swells this type of cargo is concentrated juicy it's a very heavy box about 1.6 metric tons when the ship is uh moving walking the cargo could shift to one side well it would be dangerous for us we're looking at some flooding from what they're saying there'll be a foot of water in that house right there in hatteras mandatory evacuation of the island has begun it can be that drastic that the the storm wipes out the road so bad that it takes weeks even months to repair sometimes [Music] so kelsey and i we made a decision that we are going to stay because we want to be here for our fishermen and we want to be here and be able to recover everything we can as fast as we can there's the official warning right there hurricane warning in this area pretty much telling you that if you haven't made plans to get out of here it's probably time to do it yep i'm here this is happening you know there's no going back this is what we're doing september 5th 2019 at my house ready to go bring what you got dorian a lot of people left we're here for now whoa did you see that on the outer banks fishing crews keep our cameras running as they head ashore to take care of their property yeah definitely picking up here it is what it is as hurricane dorian prowls the eastern seaboard gps data shows vessels steering clear of its vast wind field but ice ranger continues on its course into dorian's storm force winds introduce yourself please my name is valerie second officer of motor vessel s ranger i'm a city officer right now now we are receiving in massage see this signal it's all about dorian very scared storm for every 10 miles they burn over a ton of fuel but taking the shortest route must be balanced against the safety of the ship so in this weather it's difficult even walking walking through the deck the wind is very strong the planned route requires the crew to be on high alert ready to respond to any change in dorian's trajectory or power of course nobody sleep this night you can't even drink the coffee no more coffee no more tea just only keep the watch hurricane dorian is moments from making a direct hit on hatteras north carolina its first and only u.s landfall it's happening seven o'clock september six friday morning we are almost in the eye you can see it right there the whole storm and so it begins the power just went out right now and then the internet goes out and then your phone service goes out and then you're like okay now i'm really trapped because you're not only physically trapped now you're virtually trapped as well what you gonna do as the eye is approaching you're getting that inner eye wall most powerful winds and driving rain and it's gusting to about 100 miles an hour and um pretty wild here in the shingles go you know come off your roof and you can see it's just spoiled really really hard as you get through that eye wall you can see it from a distance the light changes it goes from being very dark to being lighter lighter and then it goes like dead calm silent uh officially officially in the eye look at the flag wow if we're in the eye the birds come out and they fly to wherever they think is going to be safe animals kind of come out of there hiding where they were and all of us come out and explore and see like you know wow we're in the middle of this it's very strange it's very eerie it gives me the chills just thinking about it hatteras is the most hurricane-prone city in the u.s but even here being in the eye is an extraordinary event hey i had to give a look i couldn't take it i had to go there was literally six inches of water in the bottom of the creek still draining out towards the sound i mean you don't see it this low sometimes you see the bank over there but not all this exposed here when all that water gets sucked out on the southeast wind and then as soon as we get that shift and that's northwest eye wall comes it pushes all the water back it comes all at once like a wall of water next thing you know there you it's time to go back inside all right bye guys the eye is surrounded by a band of the storm's most violent winds following just minutes behind yeah that's all rain water rushing back into this island i could see the front coming i barely get to the house and it starts blowing hard again and raining all right rain started getting really heavy look that water's coming up so fast let's go this is motor vessel ice ranger and now we are passing very closely [Music] ice ranger is at the most critical part of its journey passing within 70 miles of hurricane dorian's eye we have a captain on the bridge he's come to alter the course to starboard their plan is to change direction cutting through dorian's wake to make for port now we have a swell 6.5 meters and a significant wave 7.9 meters in heavy seas the cargo in ice rangers hold is at risk of breaking free of its bindings causing a shift in weight that would leave her gravely unstable check it out guys 37 degrees to starboard in the 25 foot swells the rolling motion is at the ship's safe limit is fighting against the strong wind and waves the ice ranger's top speed is reduced by more than half diverting around dorian has added a day to the journey yeah this is the back side of the eyeball the other side of the hurricane this is the flooding side yeah this is about to get real this is what we got it it's flooding in my backyard there's been waves pretty gnarly in hatteras dorian's category one winds have pushed a seven foot wall of water on shore a tsunami-like storm surge is ripping through north carolina's outer banks honestly right now the worst thing is things floating into your house and taking down the structure that's there wow look at it pretty good rushing right there eagle pass river [Music] just hoping the wind falls out soon we were getting messages from friends and people saying it was the worst they'd ever seen there's a coast guard right there flying around checking on everybody [Applause] it's friday september 6. it's finally going down as far as i know everyone's safe and haters we're safe dorian's passage over hatteras lasted four hours even more devastating than its 90 mile per hour winds was the seven foot storm surge that swept across the island it buckled the walls right here wow there was a lot of force coming through here for sure all said and done we lost thousands of dollars of frozen fish product and we had thousands of dollars of damage to our business holy [Music] that part of the wall is gone all right we're in [Music] you're looking at the damages and you're saying to yourself you know well well that sucks but all that can be replaced you know we're pretty fortunate considering how bad it could have been [Music] compared to what happened in the bahamas we've lost you know nothing pretty much cape hatteras was the only point in the u.s where dorian made landfall days later the aiken brothers were back in business ice ranger arrived safely in port canaveral under the skilled guidance of its new captain in the bahamas hurricane dorian was the island's worst ever natural disaster this catastrophic assault lasted 27 hours the most prolonged battering by an atlantic hurricane of any populated place in recorded history [Music] you

Channel: National Geographic

Views: 2,257,098

Keywords: national geographic, nat geo, natgeo, animals, wildlife, science, explore, discover, survival, nature, culture, documentary, perpetual planet nat geo, photography, full episode, hurricane dorian, national geographic channel, nat geo documentaries 2022, gathering storm full episodes, national geographic 101, nat geo 101, national geographic full episodes 2022, hurricane dorian documentary, natural disasters 2022

Id: AMV6758nosU

Length: 44min 24sec (2664 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 09 2022