An account of the great Johnstown, Pennsylvania, flood of 1889, when a dam failed and over two thousand people died, making this one of the worst peacetime disasters in the history of the United States.

A gripping new history celebrating the remarkable heroes of the Johnstown Floodthe deadliest flood in U.S. historyfrom NBC host and legendary weather authority Al Roker Central Pennsylvania, May 31, 1889: After a deluge of rainnearly a foot in less than twenty-four hoursswelled the Little Conemaugh River, panicked engineers watched helplessly as swiftly rising waters threatened to breach the South Fork dam, built to create a private lake for a fishing...

The day after Memorial Day 1889, 20 million tons of water careened downhill to Johnstown, PA, washing away the city, along with 2,000 of its residents. The tragedy occurred when a dam built for the recreation of members of the exclusive South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club broke. This tragedy links Elizabeth Haberlin and Lee Parker. Elizabeth was a member of society's elite in late 19th-century Pennsylvania. Lee and her mother have been abandoned by...

Barry's family tries to evacuate before Hurricane Katrina hits their home in New Orleans. But when Barry's little sister gets terribly sick, they're forced to stay home and wait out the storm. At first, Katrina doesn't seem to be as bad as predicted. But overnight the levees break, and Barry's world is literally torn apart. He's swept away by the floodwaters, away from his family. Can he survive the storm of the century -- alone?

There were warning signs that the molasses tank would break. The steel sides moaned and groaned. Molasses oozed from its seams. But the people of Boston's North End -- mostly poor immigrants -- were powerless to complain to the big molasses company. On a bright January day in 1919, the tank finally broke and almost three million gallons of molasses rushed the neighborhood.