Thunderstorm Fierce Earth

'Coming up on Fierce Earth -

'it's all about flashes and bangs

'as we enter the scary world of the thunderstorm.

'In Florida, the storm capital of America,

'we reveal what happens when you mix electricity with lightning.

'We meet the British boy who cheated death

'when lightning struck him at school.

'And we find out just how fierce a hailstorm can get.'

Argh!

'The Fierce Earth team are on a mission

'to investigate the two deadliest threats from a thunderstorm,

'lightning and hail.

'And discover how to survive if a monster storm comes your way.'

Oh, my gosh! I was not expecting that.

'What happens when the ground shakes,

'the seas rise up and the air tears itself apart?

'The Fierce Earth team move in,

'taking on the most powerful forces on the planet.

'Get ready for Fierce Earth.

'The Earth and how to survive it.'

'At any one time, it's estimated that 1,800 thunderstorms

'are happening across the world.

'Huge dark clouds, flashes of lightning...

THUNDERCLAP

'..followed by bangs of thunder...

'and, if you're really unlucky, tennis-ball-sized hail.

'But where does all this fury come from?

THUNDERCLAP

'Thunderstorms form best in hot weather

'because they need the warm moist air from near the ground

'to rise really, really high and cool

'to form huge clouds full of moisture.

'Some of that moisture falls as rain,

'but if it's cold enough high in the cloud

'hail can form when the water freezes

'and the tiny ice balls bounce around, growing in size.

'Until gravity eventually brings them hurtling to Earth.

'Lightning is generated inside a thundercloud

'where the water and ice crystals rub together

'to create a static charge in the sky.

'Like rubbing your head against a balloon.

'Eventually, there's enough energy

'to jump all the way to the surface of the Earth in a lightning bolt.

'You can be sure some of those storms are happening in Florida

'because this is the thunder and lightning capital of America.

'Perfect for a storm chaser like me to get right into the action,

'photographing and recording extreme weather.'

-THUNDERCLAP!

-Oh!

Oh, it hit that pole!

'That means life isn't always fun for my car.

'Hail's destroyed five of my windscreens.

'So I went back to the drawing board

'and came up with this ultra-mean storm-proof version.'

This is Lexan, which is basically bulletproof.

'Complete with a super-tough outer shell.'

Check out this paint.

'Hail has no chance against it.'

'Over the years, I've come under attack from huge hurricanes...'

Wow, here comes the blast.

'.violent tornadoes...

'and monster thunderstorms.

'Normally, my state-of-the-art equipment

'keeps me one step ahead of the weather.

'But no weather report can tell you where lightning will strike next.'

Tornados, you can see them coming, you can prepare.

Hurricanes, you know they're coming.

But lightning happens so quick, and it can just zap you in a second.

'I want to know more about lightning,

'but you never know where or when it'll strike...

'unless you're in this building.

'I've come to a high-voltage lab in Florida.

'It's one of the few places

'where you can get really close to a lightning bolt

'without becoming one of the 40 Americans killed by them each year.'

-Hey, Mike.

-Hey, how are you? Wow! Look at this facility!

'Hugh is going to fire up this huge generator

'to create our very own Fierce Earth lightning strike.

'Lightning strikes are millions of volts of electricity

'trying to get from inside a thundercloud to Earth.

'This is called earthing.

'They do this the easiest way they can,

'so objects like aerials and pylons are perfect targets

'because they conduct electricity so well.

'This massive generator is our thundercloud.

'When we turn on a light or our computer at home,

'we use about 240 volts.

'This machine's about to generate 2,000 times that.

'A massive half a million volts.

'If all goes well, our lightning bolt

'will jump from Point A on this wire

'over to Point B on this electricity pylon

'through thin air.'

-So, it's going to travel all the way from there to there?

-Correct.

OK. I'm ready, let's do it.

'If it went wrong, this experiment could kill,

'so we head to the safely of the control room.

'We'll still be just five metres away from the flash.'

You look relaxed. I'm nervous. We're OK, right?

'As the voltage increases, these crackling sparks

'show that our lightning bolt is getting more and more energy.'

It's getting louder.

'Eventually, it's able to make the jump across to the pylon.'

-Ooh!

-There we go.

'That was over in the blink of an eye.

'Let's take another look.

'The lightning jumps across nearly a metre of air

'to the metal pylon at the speed of light.

'That's fast enough to travel to the moon in just 1.3 seconds.

'On a real strike...

'the air is heated to over 20,000 degrees.

'That's three times hotter than the surface of the sun.

'The noise that made us all jump...

'..is the air being torn apart by the energy in the electricity.

GROANING

CRACK! There we go.

'What we're hearing is thunder.'

Wow! That was awesome.

'As well as being incredible to watch,

'we've also discovered something fascinating about thunderstorms.

THUNDERCLAP!

'Thunder and lightning are actually the same event.

'Because we were stood right next to the strike,

'the noise and flash happened at the same time.

'But when you watch a storm in the distance,

'there seems to be a gap between the flash of lightning

'and the clap of thunder.

'This is because light moves through the air faster than sound,

'so we see the flash before we hear the thunder.

THUNDERCLAP!

'It works out that if the gap is five seconds...

THUNDERCLAP!

'..the storm is one mile away.

'Ten seconds...

THUNDERCLAP!

'..two miles away, and so on.

'So now we can measure how far away a storm is.

THUNDERCLAP!

'Lightning is a major worry if you're caught in a thunderstorm,

'but those dark clouds carry another destructive threat.

'Hail.

'Leo and Zoe now try to recreate the awesome damage

'these balls of ice are capable of.'

'Hailstones form several miles up inside

'the largest and most severe thunderclouds.

'When the current of rising warm air

'fuelling the cloud is powerful enough,

'it's able to keep ice particles bouncing around and growing

'until eventually gravity brings the hailstones hurtling to Earth.

'By the time they smash into the ground,

'they can be travelling up to 100 miles per hour,

'which is not good news for anything in their way.

'Imagine experiencing chunks of ice smashing windows and furniture,

'destroying greenhouses and even piercing roofs.

'Today on Fierce Earth, we want to find out

'what it feels like to be caught in a hailstorm like this.

'We've decided Leo's the one for this man-versus-nature challenge.'

'All Zoe's told me is I'm about to be attacked by a very nasty hailstorm.

'Time to dash to the safety of my trusty car

'as I don't want to be caught outside.'

That's better. Should be safe in here.

'Don't be so sure, Leo.

'Not all hail is pea-sized, like we get in the UK.

'The largest hailstone ever found was 20 centimetres in diameter.

'That's the size of a football.

'Usually, the bigger the hail, the more damage it does.

'Even a car is going to suffer if it's pelted by large hailstones.

'Look what happens to this windscreen when it's hit.

'Leo is safely in his car, but is his car safe from us?

'These 100 gram ice balls are going to be doing their best

'to put some serious dents in it, just like nature can do.'

Come on, guys, I need a bit of help.

Hello, Leo.

'This looks like fun, but we've taken lots of safety precautions

'to recreate this hailstorm.

'The car's taking a pounding from only four metres away.

'Leo's getting a real taste of the noise and fury of a hailstorm,

'but even our hardest throws fail to dent his car...

'..or even shatter a window.'

That was terrifying. You can't imagine how loud it is in there.

Bunch of big guys throwing chunks of ice as hard as they can,

but the car's stood up pretty well.

Goes to show how full-on a real hailstorm is.

The power of nature would smash the car to pieces.

'Now I'm a little bit nervous.

'In the name of science, my car and I have felt the force

'of 50 large ice balls.

'Travelling at 60 miles per hour.

'But incredibly we've both come through unscathed.

'After seeing what a thunderstorm can throw at you,

'I'm grateful I don't live in the top three thunderstorm sites

'on the world's stormiest continents.

'In third place, North America's stormiest place.

'No surprises it's in Florida, at the city of Lakeland,

'which has a thunderstorm on at least 100 days per year.

'Second, it's South East Asia and Bandung in Indonesia.

'With 218 annual stormy days.

'And the world's stormiest place is in Africa.

'The countryside around Kampala, the capital of Uganda,

'endures a shocking 242 stormy days per year.

'Thunderstorms don't happen anything like this often in Britain.

'But when they do they can still have serious consequences,

'as this amazing story of a dangerous lightning strike reveals.'

THUNDERCLAP!

Lightning strikes on people are rare, but incredibly dangerous.

'Of the 300,000 lightning strikes that hit the UK each year,

'around 30 hit people.

'That means the chance of being hit by lightning

'is around two million to one.'

And that's what happened to 11-year-old Joe from Swindon.

SIRENS WAIL

'Joe was waiting outside his school for a lift home

'at 3:00 one cloudy autumn afternoon.

'There was certainly no sign of a storm in the air.

'Then out of nowhere came a huge boom of thunder

'and a blinding flash of lightning.

THUNDERCLAP!

'Joe's head teacher, Mr Sissons,

'was in his office overlooking the front of school.'

The windows in the whole place shook.

And it was a virtually sort of vertical shaft of lightning.

-Gosh!

-Quite incredible.

'The thunderbolt was heard for miles around,

'including by Joe's mum at home.'

We've got a main road around the corner

and I thought it was a car crash, the bang of it.

THUNDERCLAP!

'Little did she know, this bolt of lightning

'was to have life-threatening consequences.

'Instead of going straight to ground,

'it hit Joe and went through him.

'In open spaces, people stand out like small trees.

'In this case, the bolt had used Joe

'as its point of contact with the Earth.

'It sent an enormous electric shock through his body,

'causing his heart to stop beating properly.

'Joe needed immediate medical help to stay alive.'

So at that point I'd just rung for an ambulance

and was coming out to see what had happened.

I didn't even know a student had been hit.

-That must have terrifying.

-It was absolutely frightful.

'An ambulance crew arrived and took Joe,

'fighting for his life, to hospital.

'Meanwhile, his mum was receiving the news of what had happened.'

I got a phone call about five minutes after it happened.

At that time, it still wasn't real. It was still, "It can't be Joe."

'At hospital, the doctors battled to get Joe's heart beating properly.

'And thankfully he was soon stable on a life-support machine

'with his mum at his bedside.'

When I first saw him, all I could see was his face.

He was covered in this bubble wrap thing from his neck down.

But it was hard. It didn't look like Joe.

'Although he was out of danger,

'the heat from the lightning bolt had left burns on his body.'

Well, I had burns on my legs and...

my chest, my stomach.

'After a five-week stay in hospital, Joe could come home,

'but his recovery was not complete.

'To help heal his burns, he must avoid the sunshine for two years

'and his heart must be monitored for the rest of his life.

'But considering he was struck by millions of volts of electricity,

'the speed of his recovery has been amazing.'

Having seen the state he was in when he was put into the ambulance,

it's remarkable.

But actually, in reality, he's a determined little fella

and he's doing very, very well indeed.

'Joe looks forward to the day when he can go outside and play football.

'In the meantime, his story has earned him a superhero nickname.'

Some of his friends call him Lightning Bolt Joe.

'Lightning strikes like the one that hit Joe are rare in Britain

'but over in one part of America

'dealing with their lethal threat is an everyday peril.

'Leo and Mike get on their gear

'and enter the world of one of America's most dangerous jobs.'

'Leo's come over to Florida to find out what makes my home state

'one of the most dangerous places to live in America.'

There's quite a lot of hazards for Florida residents, eh?

There is. I mean, we have the weather aspect.

You've got hurricanes, lightning, tornados,

and then the wildlife, we have alligators, crocodiles, snakes.

Florida does have a lot of really dangerous aspects.

'Lightning's the one I worry about the most.

'Because Florida gets hit more than anywhere else in America.

'An amazing 1.4 million times per year.

'When those lightning bolts hit,

'they look for the easiest way to reach the ground.

'Because they're taller than most things and contain a lot of metal,

'often the best target is an electricity pylon.

'The brave people who fix them after storms are called linemen.

'Today, they're letting us join their Miami training academy.'

-Leo, you're not afraid of heights, are you?

-Not exactly, Mike.

'We're here to learn how linemen safely disconnect power lines

'and then work on them after massive storms.

'We'll be under the watchful eye of David and Frank.

'Our first job is to make sure we look the part.

'In a fire-resistant shirt and harness.

'Next up, it's the monster tool belt,

'full of everything you need to make a repair ten metres above ground.'

These belts can weigh approximately 14 plus kilos.

'That's the same as a two-year-old child.'

You would not want to be carrying that for six hours a day.

Wow! Look at that.

'For our first task, David wants Leo to use this tool

'to safely disconnect the power from this line.

'Linemen must learn to do this correctly

'to stay alive near high voltages.'

Leo, if you would like to try this,

we'd like to go ahead and open up this switch.

-OK.

-You've got this.

I'm going to try and bust this load.

There you go. Push that into the eye.

You have just interrupted a load with no issues.

'That wasn't too bad.

'But linemen have to be able to do fiddly jobs like this

'wearing special gloves that protect them

'from lethal 10,000 volt shocks.

'One way they practise is by trying to pick up pennies from a table.'

Let's see if you can pick up these coins.

Not very successful.

Oh, come on, it can't be that hard.

-'No joy for Leo.'

-OK, I give up.

All right, let's try this out.

I feel like I'm wearing two orange cones.

All right, give it a go on the coins.

-Perfect!

-Good job.

-Picked it up.

Nice job, Mike.

'We've done pretty well with the ground training,

'but now we hand over to no-nonsense Frank.

'His climbing skills give Leo a run for his money.

'He wants to make sure we understand the dangers

'of working five metres above the ground

'next to cables carrying 13,000 volts.

'One wrong move and you're toast.'

Up there, we're about 12 inches away from what could be a bomb.

It's very dangerous. We could get electrocuted.

-OK? So, you guys ready to do this thing?

-Ready.

-Ready.

'You should never, ever go near a pylon.

'Although we've disconnected the electricity going through this wire,

'it's still vital Leo does exactly as Frank says.

'Their job is to make this pylon safe to work on

'by putting these rubber blankets over the wires.'

We use these to insulate.

'Rubber will not let electricity pass through it.'

Take that and drape it over there, like I just did.

Easier said than done. I'll try.

'The most important part of Frank's job

'is to stay safe from both electric shocks

'and from lightning strikes in this very dangerous environment.'

Electricity wants to do one thing, go to ground.

-You're a great way to go to ground.

-That won't be pretty.

No. Not pretty at all.

'The high-level repair is done.

'Now it's just down to me to hook the power back up.'

-Hold it. Job well done. Thank you.

-Thank you, sir.

'We've done it.

'We've got a feel for one of the world's most extreme jobs.'

These linemen have got it tough. Oh, man!

I think I'm going to stick to chasing storms.

'Linemen have the right clothing to protect them from lightning strikes,

'but most of us don't have that luxury.

'Leo and Clare are now off to the woods to find out what to do

'if you're caught in a storm with no protection.'

-The rain is getting a bit heavier, Leo.

-I think we might get wet.

'Fierce Earth has sent Leo and me into the middle of nowhere.'

So, how far away is our car?

Er...quite far.

-I don't know where we are, actually.

-Yes.

'The rain's coming down and we've nowhere to shelter. Great(!)

'But, hey, it's all in the name science.'

-Uh-oh!

-Uh-oh!

-Are we going to be caught in the woods overnight?

Well, I don't know, but I hope not.

'As darkness falls, the weather's getting worse.

'A thunderstorm could arrive at any time.

'We could be exposed to potential lightning strikes and flash floods.

'We need to get some shelter.

'Luckily, we're not alone.

'Storm survival expert Chalky is here to help us.

'He's been teaching weather survival skills for over 20 years

'and he's so tough

'he even trains soldiers how to cope with extreme conditions.'

Guys! What are you doing out in weather like this?

Guys, you need to think about your shelter.

'If thunder and lightning does arrive,

'we need to get out of harm's way by building a shelter.

'But where we choose to build it is critical.'

-Things you need to consider.

-Right.

-We're in a nice big woodland.

-Yeah.

-Let's get in the middle of the wood.

If possible, stay away from the larger trees.

Make sure there's no dead branches like the one up there

just hanging on the tree. High winds, that will come down.

Get away from low ground. There's a chance of flash floods.

-You know what you're looking for and what to do.

-Come on, let's go.

'Chalky's given us ten minutes

'to find the right location and build our shelter.'

The time is against them.

The water's starting to come down nice and heavy now.

'All we've got to help us is some string and a plastic sheet.

'So we'll need to gather wood to make the frame.'

-We don't want to be in a ditch in case we get flash flooded.

-OK.

We don't want to be underneath the big trees

because they might get hit by lightning.

OK, this is looking pretty good.

'Deep in the woods, we find the perfect spot.'

-Not bad. We're getting a lot of shelter.

-Yeah.

'But we've only got five minutes left to build our shelter.

'We need to remember those Cub Scout knots.'

-Have you got any string, Leo?

-I have.

Oh, well done. Let's have a go. There's more here.

The rain is getting heavier. I think the storm's getting closer.

'A few more knots and carefully-positioned logs later,

'our time's up and Chalky's back for inspection.'

-How are we getting on?

-We're getting there.

This is a really good site. You've stayed away from the larger trees.

You're in the shorter tree part of the wood

and the trees you're using are spot on.

You need to get in your shelter, keep your core temperature warm.

-OK.

-Get in, Clare. Come on.

-OK.

-Here we go.

'Thanks to Chalky's help, our shelter should keep us safe

'because we found a site where the trees are not too tall,

'so they are less likely to get struck by lightning.

'The high ground will help us to avoid flash floods.

'And this well-constructed design should stay strong in high winds.

'If the storm comes, we've given ourselves

'the best chance to make it through the night.

'The Fierce Earth team have finished their duel with the thunderstorm.

'We've discovered you must fear its killer lightning...

'and monster hail.'

'But, if you do find yourself in the middle of a thunderstorm,

'remember our Fierce Earth survival guide.

'If you have to shelter outside,

'keep close to the ground under a low tree canopy.

'Stay away from electricity pylons and tall trees.

'If the storm has large hailstones, get out of the line of fire.

'They can be incredibly destructive.

'This is how to maximise your chance of surviving the fierce earth.

'Coming up next time on Fierce Earth -

'an explosive volcano special.

'We get face-to-face with two of the world's most spectacular volcanoes.

'We're going inside, outside

-'and all the way to the red-hot top.'

-Wow!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd