0:00:02 > 0:00:06Today on Fierce Earth, we get inside the spinning fury of a tornado
0:00:06 > 0:00:11to reveal where these ferocious winds get their punch
0:00:11 > 0:00:15and why we're most at risk from the lethal debris they carry.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19We'll meet the nine-year-old American boy
0:00:19 > 0:00:22who was sucked up into a tornado.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24It kind of felt like I was flying.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27It felt like I was in The Wizard Of Oz, or something.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30And we get right up close to their record-breaking winds
0:00:30 > 0:00:32with storm chaser, Mike.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35As you can see, we have complete destruction.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40The Fierce Earth team are on the case to find out
0:00:40 > 0:00:43what makes the tornado weather enemy number one
0:00:43 > 0:00:47and how it's possible to survive when one has you in its sights.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49One...zero.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58What happens when the ground shakes, the seas rise up
0:00:58 > 0:01:01and the air tears itself apart?
0:01:01 > 0:01:03The Fierce Earth team move in,
0:01:03 > 0:01:07taking on the most powerful forces on the planet.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23Get ready for Fierce Earth.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26The Earth and how to survive it.
0:01:31 > 0:01:32I've got a my video camera on it
0:01:32 > 0:01:35and the other camera I'll take a still with it.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40Tornadoes contain the fastest winds in nature,
0:01:40 > 0:01:42speeds up to 300 miles per hour,
0:01:42 > 0:01:46that's 100 miles per hour faster than a Formula One car!
0:01:49 > 0:01:52The most extreme can strip trees back to their bare wood
0:01:52 > 0:01:54and leave entire towns reduced to rubble.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00And if the conditions are right, they can form anywhere on Earth.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05The first thing we need is hot, moist air at the Earth's surface
0:02:05 > 0:02:09which rises quickly to form huge thunderclouds.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13If we get winds blowing from different directions,
0:02:13 > 0:02:16this rapidly rising warm air, feeding the thundercloud,
0:02:16 > 0:02:18starts to rotate.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23This causes the famous cone you see below the cloud
0:02:23 > 0:02:25that appears to touch the ground.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28This rapid spiral gets faster and faster
0:02:28 > 0:02:32and then starts to pick up the soil, and everything in its path,
0:02:32 > 0:02:34as the tornado drifts over the landscape...
0:02:35 > 0:02:37..causing miles of destruction.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41The bad news for people and buildings
0:02:41 > 0:02:44is that the most violent winds inside tornadoes
0:02:44 > 0:02:46are often the ones nearest to the ground.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51Clare now takes a trip to an ice rink
0:02:51 > 0:02:55to reveal why a tornado's distinctive funnel shape
0:02:55 > 0:02:57is the key to such incredible wind speeds.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04MUSIC: "The Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy" by Tchaikovsky
0:03:07 > 0:03:10Scientists who measure the winds inside tornadoes
0:03:10 > 0:03:13have found that, as the tornado gets narrower near to the ground,
0:03:13 > 0:03:15the winds get faster.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18Right, here we go.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20Ohhh...
0:03:20 > 0:03:22We can explain why this is by watching an ice skater
0:03:22 > 0:03:23do a pirouette.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27And I know just the person to show us how to do one.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31Lorna, can you do us a pirouette, please?
0:03:34 > 0:03:36Look at the way Lorna spins when she does a pirouette.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41As she pulls her arms in to form a narrower shape,
0:03:41 > 0:03:42her spin gets faster.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48The same thing happens inside a tornado.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Nearer to the ground where the tornado is narrower,
0:03:51 > 0:03:55and the circle tighter, the winds become more concentrated,
0:03:55 > 0:03:57causing them to spin faster and faster.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02It's these faster winds near to the ground that can lead
0:04:02 > 0:04:04to the terrible destruction we find in their wake.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12When tornadoes do touch down, you don't want to be too close,
0:04:12 > 0:04:15unless you're a storm chaser like Mike.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19He now takes us into his dangerous world of tracking tornadoes.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24There is nothing more awe-inspiring than watching a tornado
0:04:24 > 0:04:26drift across the landscape.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30I spend my life trying to get as close as possible to them
0:04:30 > 0:04:32in my job as a storm chaser.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35Here we go, we got a tornado.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39My aim is to measure wind speeds and air pressure
0:04:39 > 0:04:43to help build up a picture of what kind of weather creates
0:04:43 > 0:04:45the most devastating tornadoes.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50I've encountered more than 50 of them...
0:04:51 > 0:04:53It's coming towards us it's not that far away, you know.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56..and I've seen the full range of destruction.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02By studying this destruction, scientists can work out
0:05:02 > 0:05:05the speed and the force of the winds inside a tornado.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10The severity of each one recorded is given a rating on a scale
0:05:10 > 0:05:15from zero to five, known to experts as the Fujita, or F-scale.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19Let's go through the scale a little bit.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22Trees like this in the F0 to F1,
0:05:22 > 0:05:23branches are going to be broken,
0:05:23 > 0:05:26street signs are going to be snapped in half.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28That trash can's going to be flying through the air.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31Even the wildlife is going to get out of the way.
0:05:31 > 0:05:32An F3 tornado,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35you can have windows blown in, the doors will blow in,
0:05:35 > 0:05:37bits of the roof will go flying off.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40Now you're getting into some more extreme damage.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43Now let's talk about the biggest tornado on the scale,
0:05:43 > 0:05:44that's an F5 tornado.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48When that happens, you have complete destruction.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50This building will be completely gutted,
0:05:50 > 0:05:52and probably 80% of it will be gone.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56Everything will be blown away, left to concrete slabs.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59This asphalt will be completely ripped off the ground,
0:05:59 > 0:06:02with only the dirt left behind.
0:06:02 > 0:06:03That's a scary tornado.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06During 15 years of chasing,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09I've only witnessed a handful of F5 tornadoes.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14Nearly all of them have occurred in a part of America
0:06:14 > 0:06:16known as Tornado Alley.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18It runs from Texas in the south,
0:06:18 > 0:06:20north and east up to Iowa
0:06:20 > 0:06:24and experiences on average 600 tornadoes per year.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37In 2007, I was out chasing storms right in the heart of this region
0:06:37 > 0:06:40and witnessed the aftermath of one of the most powerful
0:06:40 > 0:06:42tornadoes on record.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49Here we are at Greensburg, Kansas and, as you can see...
0:06:51 > 0:06:53..we have complete...
0:06:53 > 0:06:55complete...
0:06:55 > 0:06:57destruction.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04It happened overnight, turning this pretty little town into rubble.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10I arrived the next morning and found very little left.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18Here's one of the destroyed homes in Greensburg, Kansas
0:07:19 > 0:07:21and this is where they used to sit.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25This is the foundation.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32I came across this fork here embedded in this tree
0:07:34 > 0:07:38and all the bark is ripped off the tree too.
0:07:45 > 0:07:50Look at these pictures showing the town before and after the tornado.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54Most of Greensburg had been flattened,
0:07:56 > 0:07:58including this iconic landmark.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01Here we are at the famous hand dug well,
0:08:03 > 0:08:05and all that's left is a pile of rubble
0:08:05 > 0:08:10Imagine being caught in the 200-mile per hour winds that did this.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13When you have sheet metal and boards and nails
0:08:13 > 0:08:15flying through the air,
0:08:15 > 0:08:17that's what makes a tornado so dangerous.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22It claimed 11 lives but this would have been much higher
0:08:22 > 0:08:25had tornado warnings not been sent out beforehand.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32Thankfully, extreme F5 tornadoes, like Greensburg,
0:08:32 > 0:08:34are very rare indeed.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37There have only been nine measured in America
0:08:37 > 0:08:39since the start of the century.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43But when they do hit, the damage they cause is catastrophic.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48The top three most costly tornadoes ever recorded are...
0:08:49 > 0:08:54..in third place, a 1970 tornado which hit Lubbock in Texas,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57causing £900 million of destruction.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03Next, it's a huge tornado which hit Kansas in 1966,
0:09:03 > 0:09:07leading to over £1 billion worth of clean-up costs.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12And the most costly tornado ever hit
0:09:12 > 0:09:16Joplin, Missouri in the southern US in 2011,
0:09:16 > 0:09:21causing a mind-blowing £1.75 billion worth of damage.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28For people caught up in extreme tornadoes like these,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31the experience must be terrifying.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34But incredible escapes are possible.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39Zoe now takes up the amazing survival story
0:09:39 > 0:09:41of a nine-year-old American boy.
0:09:42 > 0:09:49In April 2011, perfect storm conditions generated 350 tornadoes
0:09:49 > 0:09:52which swept through America's southern and eastern states.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57It was the most deadly outbreak in nearly 90 years,
0:09:57 > 0:10:01killing 324 people across six states.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07The city of Tuscaloosa in Alabama was one of the worst hit.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09It's home to the Epps family.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13They are dad Reggie, mum, Danielle,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16James Peter, seven, Joel, five,
0:10:16 > 0:10:19and nine-year-old Reggie Junior, known as RJ.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23They live in a quiet, safe neighbourhood,
0:10:23 > 0:10:25ideal for a young family.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37One spring morning shortly after 5am,
0:10:37 > 0:10:41Reggie got up for work on a day that would shatter this tranquillity.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45This morning I decided to look at my phone
0:10:45 > 0:10:50and it showed there was a line of rain coming through.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53So there was no warnings on it, nothing of that nature.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57I remember hearing a slight thunder
0:10:57 > 0:11:01and then I heard the wind increase.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03It got real loud, real quick.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08The thing making all that noise was a 200-mile-per-hour tornado
0:11:08 > 0:11:11which was cutting a path through the morning gloom.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18One neighbour's house after another was being reduced to rubble
0:11:18 > 0:11:21and the Epps' family home was next in its sights.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26Everything was rumbling, you could feel the shakes,
0:11:26 > 0:11:29you could hear the tearing and the ripping.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31As the winds tore into their house,
0:11:31 > 0:11:35Reggie made a desperate attempt to save his family.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39RJ gets to the side of the bed and I reach up to grab him
0:11:39 > 0:11:41and right when I grab him, everything intensifies,
0:11:41 > 0:11:43the walls caved.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50And it was just like he was a slingshot taken away from my hands.
0:11:50 > 0:11:51It was just an instant.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53My boy's gone.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57The tornado winds had snatched RJ from his father's grasp
0:11:57 > 0:11:58and up into the air.
0:12:03 > 0:12:04At first I thought it was a dream.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07It kind of felt like I was flying.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11There wasn't really anything under me. I looked down.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14It felt like I was in The Wizard Of Oz, or something.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19Just felt like I was floating.
0:12:19 > 0:12:25Inside a 200-mile-per-hour tornado, RJ was at the mercy of nature.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28Huddled together in what was left of their home,
0:12:28 > 0:12:30his family feared the worst.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35My wife, she yells out for RJ and she yells out for him twice
0:12:35 > 0:12:38and the second time you could see him,
0:12:38 > 0:12:40I could see a silhouette of him walking back to us
0:12:40 > 0:12:42through the rubble and stuff.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45With lethal debris all around him, he had been flung
0:12:45 > 0:12:49over ten metres across the road and dropped into a neighbour's garden.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53I got up and started walking.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57He was able to walk back and I got him up onto me
0:12:57 > 0:13:00and said, "It's OK, Daddy's got you, don't worry about it.
0:13:00 > 0:13:01"Daddy's got you."
0:13:03 > 0:13:07Against all the odds, RJ had walked away from a terrifying experience
0:13:07 > 0:13:09few people have survived.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12Oh, no!
0:13:13 > 0:13:17The tornado was so powerful, it hadn't just lifted up RJ,
0:13:17 > 0:13:22it had ripped apart and thrown their house across the street.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24This is what was left.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27Imagine seeing your home reduced to a pile of wood
0:13:27 > 0:13:29and belongings in seconds.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36Somehow, amongst all this mayhem, only dad Reggie suffered
0:13:36 > 0:13:40serious injury and had to be taken to hospital with broken ribs.
0:13:45 > 0:13:50Two years on from the tornado, the landscape still bears the scars.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55The family are now in their new house on the same site.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02It's similar to their old home but with one very important addition.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04OK, guys, siren's going off. Come on.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06Safe room.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10Reggie has added a tornado shelter, a special reinforced room
0:14:10 > 0:14:15and steel door which is designed to resist tornado-strength winds
0:14:15 > 0:14:17of over 250 miles per hour.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21The family know this is the only room guaranteed to survive
0:14:21 > 0:14:23next time there's a tornado in town...
0:14:26 > 0:14:30..not that RJ needs any convincing about how dangerous tornadoes are.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35My friends they were like...
0:14:37 > 0:14:42.."Wow, you're like so lucky that you survived
0:14:42 > 0:14:44"and stuff...
0:14:45 > 0:14:47"..and still have your family and stuff."
0:14:49 > 0:14:52The lesson learned by RJ and his family was that only
0:14:52 > 0:14:55a shelter is sure to keep you safe from a tornado.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02Leo now heads to Texas to find out how scientists test
0:15:02 > 0:15:06whether shelters can resist the violent force of tornado debris.
0:15:08 > 0:15:13Wind speeds inside tornadoes can reach 300 miles per hour
0:15:13 > 0:15:15but it's not just the wind that's dangerous,
0:15:15 > 0:15:17it's the things it picks up.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28If you look at footage of a tornado sweeping across the landscape,
0:15:28 > 0:15:32you can often see dark, dusty mist surrounding it.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34This is actually soil and debris that has been picked up
0:15:34 > 0:15:36by the rapidly-spiralling winds.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40But because of the amazing energy in these winds,
0:15:40 > 0:15:43tornadoes can pick up almost anything.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46For a few seconds, pieces of wood, metal,
0:15:46 > 0:15:48even cars can become deadly missiles.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59'I've come to this lab in Texas to find out how
0:15:59 > 0:16:02'this mayhem can be recreated in a very controlled way.'
0:16:04 > 0:16:06Wow!
0:16:06 > 0:16:08'Larry and his team use this very powerful air cannon
0:16:08 > 0:16:12'to do life-saving research into how to protect family homes
0:16:12 > 0:16:14'from killer tornadoes.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17'There is no other lab like this in the world
0:16:17 > 0:16:19'and, today, Larry's agreed to let me take it over
0:16:19 > 0:16:22'for a special Fierce Earth experiment.'
0:16:25 > 0:16:28So how fast are we going to be firing these pieces of wood
0:16:28 > 0:16:29out of your cannon, Larry?
0:16:29 > 0:16:33- We're going to fire it at 100 miles an hour.- Wow!
0:16:33 > 0:16:35So our piece of wood's caught in the tornado
0:16:35 > 0:16:39and it's going to come crashing into someone's window, that's the idea.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41'We've constructed parts of a Fierce Earth house,
0:16:41 > 0:16:45'which we're going to put at the mercy of this lethal cannon
0:16:45 > 0:16:48'to find out what happens to windows and walls
0:16:48 > 0:16:49'when a tornado comes knocking.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53'OK, let's get started.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57'First, we load the cannon with some wood very similar
0:16:57 > 0:16:59'to the missiles thrown by tornadoes.'
0:16:59 > 0:17:01That weighs about seven kilos?
0:17:01 > 0:17:04It's about three metres long?
0:17:04 > 0:17:05In she goes.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09OK...
0:17:11 > 0:17:12Cannon loaded, sir.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15'Such is the force of the impact,
0:17:15 > 0:17:19'everybody must retreat behind the safety glass before firing.'
0:17:19 > 0:17:23This is the mission control or the command centre for our cannon.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27'Just like if a real tornado hit the lab,
0:17:27 > 0:17:31'it's impossible to know where the splinters and debris will fly.'
0:17:31 > 0:17:34- So do we need to aim it?- Yes.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36Probably a good idea
0:17:36 > 0:17:38You can just see the laser coming across
0:17:38 > 0:17:40to the middle of the window, the upright.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42That looks pretty good to me, sir.
0:17:42 > 0:17:43'We're ready...
0:17:45 > 0:17:47'..and I'm in charge of the red button.'
0:17:47 > 0:17:49BUZZER ALERT
0:17:51 > 0:17:53Clear?
0:17:54 > 0:17:55Three...
0:17:58 > 0:18:00..two...
0:18:02 > 0:18:05..one...
0:18:05 > 0:18:06zero!
0:18:08 > 0:18:10Oh, ha-ha!
0:18:11 > 0:18:14'The wood leaves the cannon at 100 miles per hour
0:18:14 > 0:18:17'and arrives at the window in one fifth of a second.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21'It shatters the plastic frame like it's made of paper,
0:18:21 > 0:18:23'hardly slowing at all.'
0:18:29 > 0:18:32- That's lethal force. - That is very lethal.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35- My goodness, shall we go and check out what's happened?- Sure.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37'The impact looks terrifying from the front,
0:18:37 > 0:18:40'but look at what happens once the wood carries on into
0:18:40 > 0:18:41'the Fierce Earth house behind.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48'It smashes into this wood, which represents furniture.'
0:18:48 > 0:18:51- That's pretty bad, isn't it? - This is quite devastating.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53Yes, that's true.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56Oh! I bet this stuff could cause a hideous injury.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00Now that's... Stuff like that's what we see prickling buildings
0:19:00 > 0:19:04and interiors of walls, little projectiles.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06- You've got a toothpick factory here, Larry.- Yes.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08Oh, dear.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14'It's no real surprise that a plastic window does little
0:19:14 > 0:19:15'to slow 100-mile-per-hour debris.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21'But what about when a stronger internal wall stands in its way?'
0:19:23 > 0:19:25Locked and loaded.
0:19:25 > 0:19:26Clear?
0:19:26 > 0:19:27BUZZER ALERT
0:19:31 > 0:19:33Well, that was a little bit more dramatic.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39'The wood has cut through the wall like a knife through butter.
0:19:42 > 0:19:43'For anything behind it...
0:19:45 > 0:19:46'..including our camera...
0:19:46 > 0:19:48'the result is devastating
0:19:48 > 0:19:51'Anyone behind here would have been seriously injured.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56'The first two tests have shown that a typical wooden house...'
0:19:56 > 0:19:58Zero!
0:19:58 > 0:20:02'..offers little or no protection against high-speed debris.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13'That's a big problem in America, because most homes are made of wood.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16'When you look at the aftermath of the fiercest tornadoes,
0:20:16 > 0:20:18'they're often left as piles of rubble.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25'Your best chance of survival is to be inside a tornado shelter,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28'special safe rooms within houses that are built to withstand
0:20:28 > 0:20:29'tornado winds and debris.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34'And Larry's got an example for us to try
0:20:34 > 0:20:36'in today's final extreme test.'
0:20:36 > 0:20:40This is a reinforced concrete and brick wall.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42This should be tornado proof.
0:20:42 > 0:20:43Let's see what happens.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47'In theory, this shelter would protect me if I was stood behind it,
0:20:47 > 0:20:48'but Larry never permits people
0:20:48 > 0:20:50'to put themselves at risk during tests.'
0:20:50 > 0:20:51BUZZER ALERT
0:20:51 > 0:20:53Clear?
0:20:53 > 0:20:56'Can this wall do its job and resist the huge force
0:20:56 > 0:20:57'of one final missile?'
0:20:57 > 0:20:59Three, two, one...
0:21:06 > 0:21:10'It's a success. The wall takes a huge impact, but stands firm.'
0:21:12 > 0:21:15- That's a little bit more like it, eh?- Absolutely.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18The projectile came a lot worse off than the wall that time.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22- Reassuring.- It certainly does.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24So, basically, if you were stood behind a wall like that,
0:21:24 > 0:21:27when a tornado hit, you'd stand a good chance?
0:21:27 > 0:21:3099% near probability of survival.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34'Tornadoes kill, on average, 70 people a year in America,
0:21:34 > 0:21:37'but that number would be far higher if it weren't for the thousands
0:21:37 > 0:21:40'of tornado shelters in homes across the country.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48'Before I go, Larry's got one more job for me.'
0:21:50 > 0:21:52What an interesting day.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56It's amazing to see the devastating force of a tornado up close.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58You see it on the telly but it's not until you see
0:21:58 > 0:22:00these big bits of wood, smashing through walls,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03that you really get an idea how dangerous they can be.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06On the rare occasions that tornadoes do happen,
0:22:06 > 0:22:08you want somewhere in your house,
0:22:08 > 0:22:11made out of brick and reinforced concrete, just like that,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14and then you've got a place to hide.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16'Planning for a tornado is a part of daily life
0:22:16 > 0:22:19'for millions of Americans, but over in Britain,
0:22:19 > 0:22:21'the idea of one rampaging through your neighbourhood
0:22:21 > 0:22:24'is almost beyond belief.
0:22:27 > 0:22:28'But, as Clare now discovers,
0:22:28 > 0:22:32'encountering a tornado in the UK isn't as unlikely as you'd think.'
0:22:36 > 0:22:38Now where in the world would you think
0:22:38 > 0:22:40gets most tornadoes per square mile?
0:22:42 > 0:22:44It's actually not America.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46It's over here in Europe.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48Top of the list is the Netherlands
0:22:48 > 0:22:51and we come a close second here in the UK,
0:22:51 > 0:22:55with, on average, 35 tornadoes per year.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Hundreds of people in Birmingham have been told
0:22:58 > 0:23:01to stay away from their homes after a freak summer tornado
0:23:01 > 0:23:03caused major devastation in the south of the city.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05Winds of up to...
0:23:05 > 0:23:10In 2005, a tornado with wind speeds up to 150 miles per hour
0:23:10 > 0:23:13struck a Birmingham neighbourhood, leaving it in ruins.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19Although Britain is hit by a number of tornadoes,
0:23:19 > 0:23:22they're normally tiny, so this was a freak event.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30I'm here to meet Nasir who was at home on the fateful day
0:23:30 > 0:23:31a tornado came knocking.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37The weather was fantastic, blue skies, beautiful day.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39Nasir and his friend were in this room
0:23:39 > 0:23:42when very quickly things turned scary.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44All of a sudden, I noticed it did get dark
0:23:44 > 0:23:48but usual British weather, I thought.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51All of a sudden I can hear some banging and some popping,
0:23:51 > 0:23:54some glass pops. As I turned around and thought,
0:23:54 > 0:23:58"Where's the sound coming from," I walked in this direction
0:23:58 > 0:24:01and as I went out and looked from this angle upstairs
0:24:01 > 0:24:04I could see that the windows had smashed
0:24:04 > 0:24:07and all the furnishings upstairs were moving around in the room.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10Nasir's street was being targeted by a large tornado.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14It had touched down and was cutting a path of destruction
0:24:14 > 0:24:15through his neighbourhood.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18This amateur footage caught the moment.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26Imagine how scary it must have been
0:24:26 > 0:24:28not knowing what was doing all this damage.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32Instead of heading upstairs to investigate
0:24:32 > 0:24:34what was causing all this terrible noise,
0:24:34 > 0:24:38Nasir made a decision which could have saved his life.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41We made our way to the pantry in the back room.
0:24:41 > 0:24:42We came through here
0:24:42 > 0:24:47and just squashed ourselves into the pantry here.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49Hiding was a very good idea.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51The pantry worked just like the tornado shelters
0:24:51 > 0:24:53they have in the USA.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56But, as soon as they were in there,
0:24:56 > 0:25:00as quickly as the tornado had arrived, it was gone.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03Within two seconds, silence, absolute silence.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06We eventually plucked the courage to open the front door
0:25:06 > 0:25:09and we had the biggest surprise of our lifetime.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14The roof from that house had actually flown across
0:25:14 > 0:25:16and was half up against our door.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18That's just incredible.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20There was debris, bricks, slates from all the houses here.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23A lot of foliage from the trees, which are not here no more,
0:25:23 > 0:25:25scattered across the ground.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28Some of the houses had their furnishings out on the road.
0:25:28 > 0:25:29All you could hear was silence
0:25:29 > 0:25:31and some of the car alarms going off,
0:25:31 > 0:25:33some of the house alarms going off
0:25:33 > 0:25:36and eventually sirens as the fire brigade made its way to the scene.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39Keep moving back, another 20 yards, please.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42As he looked, Nasir realised it wasn't just bits of houses
0:25:42 > 0:25:45that had been picked up and thrown around.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48My car, at the time, was parked round about here.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52But when we came out, we noticed it had moved towards
0:25:52 > 0:25:55- where that lamp-post was on the opposite side.- Show me, show me.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59His car, weighing around a tonne, had been picked up by the tornado
0:25:59 > 0:26:01and thrown almost 20 metres!
0:26:02 > 0:26:04It was about here.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08The tornado damaged most of the houses on Nasir's street,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11as well as dozens of neighbouring homes and a school.
0:26:12 > 0:26:17Along the tornado's 1,000 metre path, trees had been uprooted
0:26:17 > 0:26:19and cars flung across roads.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23Although there were injuries, incredibly, everyone
0:26:23 > 0:26:27who experienced it, lived to tell the tale of the Birmingham tornado.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32It was something we saw in the movies,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35something which took place in America and tropical climates
0:26:35 > 0:26:36but, no, never here,
0:26:36 > 0:26:38but, yeah, it happened.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45The Fierce Earth team have passed through the terrifying
0:26:45 > 0:26:47centre of the tornado.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51Its winds are the fastest and most destructive in nature
0:26:51 > 0:26:55and the debris it carries can pierce buildings and throw cars.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59If you end up in the path of a tornado,
0:26:59 > 0:27:01remember our Fierce Earth Survival Guide.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06Track the route the tornado is moving and aim to avoid it.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10Make sure your home has a tornado shelter
0:27:10 > 0:27:12to protect you from flying debris.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16And regularly rehearse what to do if one strikes.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20This is how you maximise your chances
0:27:20 > 0:27:22of surviving the fierce Earth.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30Next time on Fierce Earth...
0:27:30 > 0:27:32we're heading into the deep freeze as we find out
0:27:32 > 0:27:36what life is like in one of the world's coldest places.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38And we're going to find out how to survive.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd