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NOVA: Rise Of The Superstorms

An aerial view of a zone in the Florida Keys displays the damage sustained from Hurricane Irma Sept. 12, 2017. The Category 4 hurricane ripped through the Florida Keys two days earlier causing widespread devastation to many of the structures within the archipelago.
Courtesy of Sgt. Anna Pongo
An aerial view of a zone in the Florida Keys displays the damage sustained from Hurricane Irma Sept. 12, 2017. The Category 4 hurricane ripped through the Florida Keys two days earlier causing widespread devastation to many of the structures within the archipelago.

Stream now or tune in Wednesday, April 28, 2021 at 9 p.m. & Sunday, May 2 at 2 p.m. on KPBS TV

Dive into the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in 2017

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In just one devastating month, Houston, Florida, and the Caribbean were changed forever. In summer 2017, three monster hurricanes swept in from the Atlantic one after another, shattering storm records and killing hundreds of people.

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Residents of Beaumont, Texas, use a boat to get to the roof of their flooded house on Aug. 31, 2017, after the flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey.
Courtesy of Sgt. Anna Pongo
Residents of Beaumont, Texas, use a boat to get to the roof of their flooded house on Aug. 31, 2017, after the flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey.

First, Harvey brought catastrophic rain and flooding to Houston, causing $125 billion in damage. Less than two weeks later, Irma lashed the Caribbean with 185 mile per hour winds — and left the island of Barbuda uninhabitable.

Hot on Irma’s heels, Maria intensified from a Category 1 to a Category 5 hurricane in just 15 hours, then ravaged Puerto Rico and left millions of people without power.

As the planet warms, are these superstorms the new normal? How well can we predict them? And as the U.S. faces the next hurricane season, does it need to prepare for the reality of climate refugees?

In "Rise Of The Superstorms," NOVA takes you inside the 2017 superstorms and the cutting-edge research that will determine how well equipped we are to deal with hurricanes in the future.

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Credits:

A NOVA production for WGBH Boston. Executive Producer: Paula S. Apsell.