National Geographic Channel (NGC) President Howard T. Owens announced the premiere of the first in-depth cable documentary detailing Hurricane Sandy and its mammoth and merciless wake, which caused more than 110 fatalities in the U.S., and paralyzed life for millions of people in more than a half-dozen states.
Superstorm 2012, a one-hour special, premieres this Thursday, November 15, at 10 p.m. ET/PT in the U.S. and encores on Sunday, November 18, at 7 p.m. It airs globally this month in 172 countries under the title “Superstorm New York: What Really Happened,” and sister Spanish language network Nat Geo Mundo will premiere it on Friday, November 23, at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
Go inside the eye of the storm to understand how 90 mph winds extended from its center and driving rains and fatal storm surges left thousands displaced and millions without power — with the hardest hit in New Jersey and New York communities, who are still reeling in its aftermath. And for the first time, find out in depth how this storm — dubbed a “Frankenstorm” by some media — developed and grew, taking almost 200 lives from the Caribbean to the East Coast, and dig further into the unpredictability of nature’s fury in the 21st century.
Superstorm 2012 also weaves together user-generated stories from those who rode out the catastrophic storm, first responders, weather experts and storm chasers. For example, we’ll see home video of an explosion at the ConEd power plant in New York. “Looked like something out of a sci-fi movie, and everyone was screaming,” John Mattiuzzie, a documentary film maker and resident of Brooklyn, explains.
And hear from one family who captured on their phone camera three trees falling outside their house. “I’ve never felt something like that before,” said John Mateer, “home is the safest place you know and to feel threatened, it feels extremely frightening…. like I was in a horror movie.”
Also, hear in detail for the first time from New York Fire Department Social Media Manager Emily Rahimi, who chronicles how she answered Twitter messages because people could not get through to 911. “This storm was definitely a 21st century storm. This was the first one, I think, to use social media for help,” she recalls in the documentary.
“This was a storm that is rewriting the record books,” says Owen. “We watched the initial weather coverage, saw the tragic, ever-present news images of whole neighborhoods under water, cars floating in the streets of Manhattan and a coastline in ruins, and continue to follow the daunting stories of recovery and cleanup. Our goal in producing this film is to get the complete picture on why it happened, understand the science behind its extreme forces, and learn how it left behind such a tableau of damage, destruction and grief.”
National Geographic Channel has also committed to running Red Cross PSAs during the premiere this week in the U.S. “It is important to not only bring our viewers the incredible detail behind this destructive storm and the unbelievable impact it had, but to also allow them an opportunity to reach out and help those affected by the aftermath,” said Courteney Monroe, chief marketing officer, National Geographic Channels.
Jeremy Dear, SVP programming for Pioneer Productions, said, “Hurricane Sandy devastated New York and New Jersey, and affected thousands of communities and millions of people across the mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States. We’ve made countless hours of weather programming before, but the nature of this storm really does make it exceptional. This film will break down the true cause and consequences of Sandy’s devastation using CGI, news footage, compelling home video and new first-person interviews.” Pioneer Productions is the creator of NGC’s Storm City and Witness: Disaster, as well as other extreme weather specials such as “Raging Planet,” “Britain‘s Worst Weather” and “The Year the Earth Went Wild.”
Superstorm 2012 is produced by Pioneer Productions for National Geographic Channel (NGC). For Pioneer, executive producers are Stuart Carter and Bob Strange; producer is Andrew Barron. For NGC, executive producer is Char Serwa, senior vice president of programming and development is Alan Eyres, and executive vice president of programming is Michael Cascio.
SOURCE: National Geographic Channel