Disaster Documentaries
Twister: Caught in the Storm
In May 2011, a massive tornado ripped through Joplin, Missouri. With pulse-pounding firsthand footage, this documentary goes inside a deadly twister.
Maui's Deadly Firestorm
FRONTLINE investigates the deadliest American wildfire in a century, and the missed warnings that made it so unstoppable. This documentary examines the fire’s causes, the chaotic response, and how changes to the climate and landscape have made Maui increasingly vulnerable to fires.
Katrina Babies
This documentary captures the voices of young Hurricane Katrina survivors 16 years later as they share their stories of survival, displacement, systemic neglect, and the ways they created their own path to recovering from the disaster.
Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire
Filmed across the West, Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire takes viewers on a journey with the top experts in the nation to better understand fire. The film follows the harrowing escape from Paradise, California as the town ignited from wind-driven embers and burned within a few hours of the fire's start. It then continues to the even more recent fires of the last two years, when Oregon, California, and Colorado suffered their worst wildfires in recorded history.
Fatal Flood
Fatal flood documents the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927, focusing on racial strife caused by exploitive practices employed to contain the river at Greenville, Mississippi.
East Kentucky Flood
"East Kentucky Flood" tells the story of the July 2022 flood from the perspectives of some of the people who endured it. The storm killed 45 people and displaced thousands, upending lives in some of the most economically distressed counties in America.
Bring Your Own Brigade
This documentary includes footage from filmmaker Lucy Walker as she was embedded with a team of firefighters working in Malibu and Paradise, California, as well as footage from residents as they fled from the flames. The film uses the eyewitness accounts to probe the causes and solutions of wildfires worldwide.
Rebuilding Paradise
On the morning of Nov. 8, 2018, a devastating firestorm engulfed the picturesque city of Paradise, California. By the time the Camp Fire was extinguished, it had killed 85 people, displaced 50,000 residents and destroyed 95% of local structures. It was the deadliest U.S. fire in 100 years — and the worst ever in California’s history. Rebuilding Paradise, from Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard, is a moving story of resilience in the face of tragedy, as a community ravaged by disaster comes together to recover what was lost and begin the important task of rebuilding.
Cooked: Survival by Zipcode
Cooked offers a fresh investigation into the 1995 Chicago Heatwave, in which 739 citizens died over the course of just a single week, most of them poor, elderly, and African American. When peeled away from the shocking headlines, the story reveals the long-term crisis of pernicious poverty, economic, and social isolation and racism.
Business of Disaster
When Superstorm Sandy made landfall in October of 2012, the historic natural disaster killed more than 100 people and caused catastrophic damage along the Eastern seaboard. Business of Disaster puts two key parts of the disaster recovery system under scrutiny: the special housing aid Congress gives to local governments after major disasters, and the National Flood Insurance Program that’s run by the Federal Emergency Management Administration. This joint investigation from Frontline and National Public Radio raises troubling questions about disaster relief in America.
Unprepared: An Oregon Field Guide Special
In light of Oregon’s significant earthquake risk, this documentary delves into the state’s level of preparedness and, as the title suggests, finds that its schools, hospitals, bridges, and infrastructure are not ready to withstand the risk.
Merchants of Doubt
Merchants of Doubt details the use of public relations strategies—first pioneered by the tobacco industry—that present false science to successfully distract consumers by misrepresenting the risk of everything from dangerous chemicals in everyday objects to greenhouse gas emissions. Based on the book of the same name by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, this film shows the subterfuges used to cause confusion.
3.11: Surviving Japan in 2011
Director Christopher Noland explores the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant disaster. The film illustrates the disaster and government policies interact to increase risk, especially for vulnerable survivors.
Children of the Tsunami
This film features firsthand accounts from child survivors of the 2011 tsunami that followed the Tōhoku Earthquake, painting a picture of the resilience in young people, as well as hope for the future.
Trouble the Water
Trouble the Water focuses on the survival experience of a couple living in New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina, documenting their retreat to higher ground, the rescues of loved ones, and return to the city in the face of repeated policy failures.
Bam 6.6
Bam 6.6 offers a tear-jerking tale of an American couple—one Jewish and one Christian—trapped in the ancient Iranian city after a major earthquake in 2003. The documentary offers layers of context, such as religious and political history, that highlight a captivating and entirely human story.
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts Set shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, Spike Lee created this documentary with the intent to "[focus] on the profound loss, as well as the indomitable spirit of New Orleanians." Offering interviews, news footage, and still photos, it offers a thorough introduction to Hurricane Katrina and its profound impact on America.
The Storm
The Storm is a Frontline PBS examination of how and why government at every level was unprepared, uncoordinated, and overwhelmed by the disaster brought on by Hurricane Katrina. Released only months after Hurricane, this documentary investigates the "political storm" surrounding the devastation of America’s Gulf Coast.
Have a documentary we should add? Please email us at hazctr@colorado.edu to let us know.